Trouble is my Middle Name!
by AL19
Summary: One minute, I was in my bedroom, watching an episode of Gintama, and the next minute, my computer screen somehow sucked me into the Gintama world, along with my older brother. This was just too awesome! Though, I had one question. How were we going to get home? *No pairings*
1. Never click on ad's, no matter what

**Yes, I have written a story like this before, but the main OC in this will be NOTHING like Madison Willis from "Two Worlds, One Life". This is basically a prologue (Even though I never write prologues or epilogues), so we'll be meeting some of the Gintama characters in the next chapter. Well, enjoy!**

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**Chapter 1: Never click on ad's, no matter what they say**

I was on the internet, watching the latest episode of Gintama. Actually, it was the last episode for the season (Yes, I was watching Gintama: Enchousen). I was sad that the anime was taking yet another hiatus, and I was hoping that the anime would continue after the second movie came out.

Wait a minute, you want me to introduce myself? Wow, I forgot to do that just now!

Anyway, my name is Christine Wardenhall. I had chest-length light-brown hair, and green eyes. For clothing, I was wearing a light-purple short-sleeved shirt, with a gray jacket, aqua-blue pants, and pink and white tennis shoes.

As I mentioned before, I was on the internet, watching Gintama. I was actually a _huge _fan of Gintama. It was my all-time favorite anime. What I loved about Gintama was the comedy, the action, and the characters. I had been obsessed with it for over two years, and I didn't think I was _ever_ going to stop loving it.

Yes, I watched other action anime, but what I didn't like about some of them were the _long_ fight scenes. I liked watching characters fight, but anime's such as Bleach or One Piece had fight scenes that were _so_ long (And even when one fight was over, they were playing _another_ fight scene), that they bored me to death.

When I started watching Gintama over two years ago, I thought it was going to be like those two other anime's I just mentioned. But I found out I was completely wrong. Gintama was sometimes episodic, and it didn't _always_ focus on fight scenes. I was pretty glad at that; otherwise it would be yet another boring anime.

I finished watching the last episode of Gintama: Enchousen. I gave out a sigh, and thought, _I really hope they won't end the anime when the second movie comes out._

I pulled my headphones off of my ears, and said to myself, "Now what? I'm bored again."

I pouted, but suddenly heard a voice enter my ears.

"Christine! I want you to help me find my book!"

I quickly turned around, and saw my older brother, Sean. Sean had short, brown hair, and also had green eyes. He was wearing a golden yellow short-sleeved shirt, with black linings on the end of the sleeves, black jeans, and white tennis shoes.

A frown appeared on my face, and I replied stubbornly, "Why should I? You're the one who lost your stupid book!"

"Don't call my book stupid! For your information, I _love_ that book!"

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever. I'll help you, but don't expect me to find it."

Sean glared at me, but I stood up from my chair, and walked past him.

For the truth, I wasn't actually going to help him find his book. It really was his own damn fault for losing it in the first place. He should look for it all by himself.

I had attempted to go hide in my parents' room, but unfortunately, Sean caught me quickly, and ordered, "Don't even try to hide. Help me look for my book, or else you won't be getting ice cream tonight."

I frowned at him once again, and muttered, "You suck, Sean."

"You always say that," He smirked as he headed down the stairs.

I followed after him, and we searched for his precious book.

We searched for a few minutes, and I looked under the chair, spotting the book. I blankly stared at the book, but pulled it out, and exclaimed, "Hey, grumpy! I found your stupid book!"

Sean glared at me once more, and exclaimed back, "I thought I told you to not call it stupid!"

Without warning my brother, I threw the book at him, and he widened his eyes in shock, but managed to grab it before it hit the ground.

Sean scowled, "Don't you _ever_ throw my book! You may not care, but this is actually one of my all-time favorite books!"

I snickered, "You should be happy it's not broken." I skipped towards the stairs, and started to run up the staircase, but I noticed that Sean was chasing after me.

"You get back here, you little brat!" He growled.

I widened my eyes, and dashed up the stairs. As soon as I was at the top of the staircase, I ran into my room, and closed the door. I chuckled evilly, and thought, _Haha, now you won't catch me!_

I quickly sat down in my chair, and put my headphones back on. But, I just realized something.

_Oh shit, I didn't lock my door._

Right after my thought, Sean opened my door, and gave me a hard glare. I raised a brow, and asked, "You're not going to attack me?"

Sean just snarled, "I'm going to give you a warning. The next time you decide to throw my book, I'm going to smack your butt!"

I rolled my eyes, and went back to my computer. Sean was a very serious person, and he tended to boss me around 24/7. Sure, he was older than me, but that didn't mean he could push me around, and tell me what to do. He's not our mom…or dad.

I was actually the complete opposite of him, because I was a cheerful person (And I will admit that I'm also childish). I rarely get serious, but when I do, I don't get as serious as Sean. To tell you the truth, he used to be as happy as me when he was a child. But our parents told him to get serious by the time he entered high school, because they once told him, 'If you keep goofing off, you'll never go to a good college, or get a good job'. My parents suck sometimes. They just _had _to destroy Sean's cheerful mood; he's never cheerful anymore. Such a shame.

Anyway, on my computer, I suddenly saw what looked to be an ad. I arched a brow, and mumbled, reading the words on the "ad", "'Click here if you wish to explore the Gintama world'…"

My eyes widened, and I thought, _What the hell?! I've never seen this kind of ad before! Do I dare click it?_

I called out my brother, "Sean! Come in here!"

"Huh? Now you want me to come into your room?"

"Just come in here! I want to show you something!"

Sean groaned, but entered my bedroom anyway. I pointed at the "ad" on the computer screen, and asked him, "Should I click this?"

Sean frowned, and asked back, "Why're you asking me? I don't watch anime."

"I know that. I'm just asking if I should click this. It says 'click if you wish you explore the Gintama world'."

A sigh escaped Sean's lips, and he told me, "Look, if you want to click it, that's fine. But if you get a virus, that's not my problem."

I gazed at the computer screen again, and hesitated before saying, "Let's hope a terrifying face won't pop up…"

I expected Sean to leave, but strangely, he didn't. Maybe he was just as curious as I was, but I was never so sure. He was, like I said, a serious person, after all.

Biting my lower lip, I moved the mouse, and when it was over the "ad", I clicked on it.

At first, nothing happened. I was glad no scary face popped up, but I frowned, and said, "Nothing's happening. This has to be a joke. I'm the one who should be making jokes, not this dumbass ad!"

Sean rolled his eyes, and replied, "First off, that doesn't make any sense. Secondly, no ad would actually 'bring you' into the world of anime."

"I know, but-" Before I could finish my sentence, my computer screen suddenly turned white.

Sean and I widened our eyes as we stared at the screen. I exclaimed, "What the hell?!"

Sean was about to ask me something, but light came out of my computer, and it was starting to suck us in. No, I wasn't kidding you! MY FUCKING COMPUTER WAS SUCKING US IN!

I tried pushing myself back, but the light sucked me even more. I grabbed onto the collar of Sean's shirt, and yelled, "HELP ME, SEAN! I DON'T WANT TO GO INTO MY COMPUTER SCREEN!"

Sean yelled back, "IT'S SUCKING ME IN, TOO! I CAN'T REALLY HELP YOU!"

"YOU SUCK…AGAIN!"

Soon, it sucked both of us in completely, and we were screaming our lungs out.

We were falling down this white portal (Seriously, all we saw right now was white), and I looked at Sean, who was holding his book tightly to his chest.

I yelled again, "YOU'RE STILL HOLDING THAT THING?! I EXPECTED YOU TO DROP IT!"

"HEY, I LOVE THIS BOOK! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?!" Sean hollered.

Just then, we heard a feminine voice.

"_Please stop yelling, you two."_

My brother and I gasped, and we looked around, trying to find the voice, but we didn't see anybody.

The voice added, _"Don't bother trying to look for me."_

I frowned, but decided to ask the voice, "What the fuck's happening here?! Tell me that I'm dreaming!"

"_Young lady, you're not dreaming. What's happening right now is real."_

My lips parted in disbelief, and I told Sean, "Sean, pinch me!"

"Okay," He replied before pinching me on the arm.

I hissed, "Ow!"

"You asked for it."

I glared at him, but the feminine voice said, _"Before you ask where you're going, I should let you know that you'll be heading into the Gintama world."_

My eyes were as wide as saucers, and I asked, feeling dumbfounded, "G-Gintama world?"

"_Yes. You'll be going into the Gintama world."_

Sean's jaw dropped in utter shock, and he shouted, "WH-WHY?! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT GINTAMA IS! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET CHRISTINE GO?!"

"HEY!" I scowled.

The voice replied, _"She pulled you in, so you were practically forced to go with her."_

Sean frowned, and held his book tighter as I asked the voice another question, "But why did you decide to suck me into my computer screen?" Although I sounded calm, I demanded an answer.

"_Well,__ you're a huge fan of Gintama, am I wrong?"_

"Well, no…"

"_Good. I sucked you in, because I could tell that you were wishing to go into the Gintama world. You wanted to know what it would be like in Edo, right?"_

"Er, yeah, but how did you know that? Were you stalking me?!"

"_No, Christine. I am actually one of the anime gods."_

"ANIME GODS?!" Sean and I shouted at the same time. I loved anime with a passion, but this was seriously weird.

The voice responded, _"Yes, I am an anime god. As an anime god, I look over millions of anime fans, including you. I've heard you wishing to go into the Gintama world a few times before I decided that now was the time."_

Sean questioned, "B-But will we ever go home?!"

"_Yes, but not for a while. And I should let you know that time in your world has stopped. That means neither of you will age, even by a second, while you're in the other world."_

I scratched my cheek, and asked, "Will I still poop, though?"

"Christine!" Sean exclaimed. "You shouldn't ask her that! That's disgusting!"

The anime god answered my question, anyway, _"Although I agree that that's an inappropriate question, I can understand why you decided to ask me that. Yes, you will still need to go to the bathroom, but since you two won't be aging until you return, Christine won't be having periods."_

"Really?!" I smiled. "Yay! Now I won't have to suffer through those horrible cramps! Well, until we return home, that is."

Sean frowned, "Christine, I seriously don't want to hear this. I'm a guy, you know."

I didn't reply, but I stuck my tongue out at him. Sean sighed, "Anyway, how long are we going to be in this world of…Gintama?"

"_I cannot answer that right now,_" The voice answered. _"But like I said, you'll be there for a while. I also won't tell you HOW you're going to return home, but I will say this. Don't get killed while you're there."_

The voice suddenly disappeared. I held my chin, and murmured, "You know, I have been wishing to explore the Gintama world lately, so…" I looked at Sean, and finished, "…this is gonna be awesome!"

No sooner after I said that, we were falling down, faster than ever. Sean screamed, "WAAAAHHH! I DON'T WANNA DIE ALREADY!"

"YOU'RE NOT GONNA DIE!" I informed him. "SURE, WE'RE FALLING DOWN AT A HUNDRED PLUS MILES AN HOUR, BUT WE'LL BE LANDING SAFELY!"

"HOW DO _YOU_ KNOW THAT?! WE COULD DIE AT ANY SECOND! AREN'T YOU AT LEAST A BIT SCARED?!"

"NAH, I'M NOT SCARED! I'M NEVER SCARED!"

"CHRISTINE, YOU'RE SCARED OF SPIDERS AND BEES! DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE _NOT_ SCARED!"

"OH, SHUT UP!"

Sean continued to scream. I screamed as well, only I was screaming with excitement.

I couldn't wait to explore the Gintama world. Man, this is gonna be so much fun.

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**Like I said, we'll be meeting some of the Gintama characters in the next chapter. And I have a question to ask. Do you want me to continue writing this in Christine's POV, or do you want me to write the rest of this story in 3rd POV? I'm thinking about writing the rest of this story in 3rd POV, but I kind of want you to decide also.**

**I know Christine's very immature, but I'll try to make her at least a little likable.**

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of "Trouble is my Middle Name!"! :)**


	2. Lying isn't always a bad idea

**So it's been settled. I'll write the rest of this story in 3rd POV. But bear with me, because I'm not the best at writing 3rd-perspective stories. Anyway, enjoy!**

**DoctorPerky: Don't worry, you made perfect sense. :)**

**Annie Leonhart: I didn't realize that capslock (When there's a lot of it, that is) would hurt the eyes. I'm such a horrible person. :( But anyway, Christine is _supposed _to be immature. And the reason why she's mean to her brother is because Sean gets too serious, and Christine doesn't exactly like that (I'm really not trying to be mean. Honest!). I am trying my best to make her at least a bit likable, though I'm not sure if you're supposed to like a character after the first chapter. :P Oh well. Anyway, I don't know why I capitalize the suffix in names. It was my own fault, not the Word program. Again, I'm a horrible person. :(**

**Ishinomori Ayame-sensei: I'll try my best. :) Don't worry, I'm not going to say you were copying me. I only speak English, anyway. *shot* XD**

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**Chapter 2: Lying isn't always a bad idea**

Eventually, Christine and Sean hit the ground hard. Christine landed on her butt, while Sean landed on his stomach. Both of them grunted in pain. Christine rubbed her butt, and thought, _Dammit, my butt hurts now._

Sean got up, and when he opened his eyes, he widened them, and stammered, "Ch-Christine…you better look!"

He touched his lips, and thought, _I just spoke in Japanese! What the heck?!_

"Eh?" Christine mumbled before opening her eyes as well. She snapped them wide, and her jaw dropped.

Everything around them was animated!

A smile appeared on Christine's lips, and she whispered, "We're in the Gintama universe…" Out of curiosity, she looked at her hands, and added, "I'm animated!"

Sean also looked at his hand, and frowned, "So am I…" He looked around, and noticed that they were in an alleyway.

Sean stood up, and when Christine turned to look at him, she noticed the same book in his arms.

Christine said, "You know, I'm amazed you didn't let go of that thing."

Sean scowled, "Christine, why're you always so rude to me?!"

Christine answered as she crossed your arms, "Sean, you used to be so cheerful when you were a kid; now you're a jerk!"

"I am _not_ a jerk! And you're one to talk!" Sean replied as he pointed his finger at her. "You're mean to a lot of people! You pull tricks on them – including me – and you even give them inappropriate nicknames!"

"Hey, I like nicknaming people, alright?!"

"No, that's _not_ alright!"

Christine stuck her tongue out at him, and stood up, saying, "Anyway, the anime god told us that time has stopped in our world, so our parents won't even _know _we're gone."

Sean rolled his eyes, "That may be true, but the anime god also told us to not get ourselves killed."

"I'll try to not get myself killed. I'm a badass, after all."

Sean snorted in amusement, "Yeah, right."

Christine glared at him. Sean ignored her glare, and added, "At least my book's safe…" But when he looked at his book, his jaw dropped.

Christine asked, "What's your problem now? Did the pages in your book rip off?"

"N-N-No…" Sean stammered yet again. "Th-The cover of my book…has Japanese on it!"

"What? Give me that!" Christine grabbed the book away from him, and as soon as she saw the cover, she realized that he was right. She wasn't as shocked as Sean, but she raised a brow, and realized, "I think the anime god did this."

"Huh?!"

"She must've made your book look Japanese." Christine opened up the book, and added as she looked at the words, "Yep, _all_ of it is in Japanese."

She gave Sean the book back, and he looked through the pages. He frowned again, "Why did she have to do that? But wait a minute, how am I still able to read it?"

"Perhaps the anime god gave us the ability to read _and _speak Japanese. That way, we wouldn't have trouble talking to people in this world."

"Why does everything have to get stranger and stranger?" Sean mumbled as he dropped his head.

Christine patted his shoulder, and replied, "Quit glooming, Sean! Let's go explore! I've always wanted to explore Edo!"

Sean was still feeling gloomy, but as soon as Christine ran out of the alleyway, he widened his green eyes, and ran after her.

When he was behind her, he told her, "At least wait for me!"

Christine and Sean were now in the streets of Edo. Sean looked around, and suddenly felt a drop of sweat roll down his cheek. He thought, _This is so weird. I feel like I'm dreaming. And is this really Edo?_

Sean curiously asked his younger sister, "Christine, is this actually Edo?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Look." He pointed at a wire far above them. Sean was fairly certain that that wire was used for electricity.

Christine informed him, "They have modern technology here. I know it's unusual, but Gintama is a parody anime, so…yeah." She shrugged her shoulders, and added, "You'll get used to it, though."

Sean thought, _Yeah…hopefully._

Sean looked around, and noticed that a few people were looking at them. They were giving them weird looks, and a random woman asked her husband, "Who are these people? Why do they have such weird clothes?"

Obviously, Sean wasn't used to this much attention. And the more people stared, the heavier the atmosphere was.

The man whispered, "Uh, Christine. People are watching us. I think it's because of our clothes."

"Hm?" Christine hummed as she looked at her shirt, jacket, and pants. She smiled, and said, "Just ignore them! Sure, our clothes are different from theirs, but who cares?"

Sean turned his head around, and saw two men walking towards them. The men were wearing some kind of uniform.

Sean whispered again, "Christine. I think those guys are following us."

Christine also turned around, but when she saw the two men, she widened her eyes, and told her brother, "Sean, those guys are the Shinsengumi!"

"Shinsengumi?" Sean repeated. "As in, police?"

"Yep! The one on the left is named Sougo Okita, and the one on the right is named Toshiro Hijikata."

The men were getting closer to them. Sean began to panic, and he stuttered, "Th-The one on the r-right d-doesn't look too happy!"

Christine rolled her eyes, "Quit being a baby, Sean. We need to explore Edo!"

Right after that, Sougo and Toshiro grabbed their arms. Sean gasped, still panicking, while Christine just gave them a smile.

Toshiro ignored her smile, and asked, "We've heard a few people talking about two citizens wearing weird clothes. And since your clothes are…unusual, you must be the ones they're talking about."

A man ran up to them, and said as he pointed at Christine and Sean, "These two must be amanto! Their clothes prove it!"

"Hey!" Christine hollered, giving the man a death glare. "We're not amanto, you peasant!" Christine didn't expect herself to say that, but it couldn't be helped.

The man gasped, "How _dare _you call me a peasant!" The man slapped Christine in the face, but Christine bit his finger, and the man yelled in pain, "Ow!"

Toshiro pulled the girl away from him, and muttered, "Alright, that's enough." He glared at Sean and Christine, and added, "Let's go, you two."

Sean exclaimed, "W-Wait! My sister's right! We're really not amanto!"

Without warning, Sougo squeezed his arm, causing him to winch in pain. Sougo told him in a calm tone, "We don't care if you're amanto or not. We're still taking you."

"Wh-Where?!"

"Where do you think? To jail."

Now it was Christine's turn to panic. She turned to Sougo and Toshiro, and yelled, "W-W-Wait! Y-Y-You can't take us to jail!"

"Why not?" Toshiro gave her a suspicious look.

Christine's mouth parted, and she thought as sweat was forming on her forehead, _I can't tell them that we're from the real world. They won't believe us. I have to find a way to convince them, so that Sean and I won't go to jail!_

Although Christine (Sometimes) disliked her brother, part of her really cared about him. She loved her brother; she just didn't like to admit it.

She took a deep breath, and crackly smiled, "We're from a different city!"

Sougo, Toshiro, and even Sean stared at her, frowning. Well, except for Sougo.

Christine continued, "Yes, we're from a city _far _away from here! We've actually never visited Edo, and it's our first time coming here!"

Sean thought with realization, _Is she trying to convince them?!_

Toshiro had a skeptical look on his face, and he replied to the girl, "What's with the weird clothes, then?"

"Th-The city we live in has clothes like these!"

Toshiro raised a black brow. Christine continued to lie, "Our hometown is starting to invent these types of clothes! Hell, maybe the people of Edo will also wear these in the next few decades!"

Sougo and Toshiro stared at each other, and Toshiro sighed before letting go of Christine's arm. Toshiro told them as Sougo also let go of Sean's arm, "We're letting this slide, but if either of you do anything idiotic – such as stealing, or even harming innocent people – we'll put you in jail. Understand?"

"Understood!" Christine immediately exclaimed.

Toshiro rolled his eyes, and he started walking away from them, but he realized that Sougo wasn't following him.

Instead, Sougo pulled Sean's book away from him. Sougo curiously asked, "What is this?"

"Hey! Give that back!" Sean demanded as he tried getting his book back. Sougo, unfortunately, dodged him.

Sougo said as he opened up the book, "'Coral Underworlds'…that's a pretty cheesy name for a book."

Sean glared at the crimson-eyed man, "It may be a cheesy title, but…just give me the book, already!"

"Hm…" Sougo stared at the book, and replied, "Nah, I think I'll take this."

Sean now gave him a terrifying expression. He growled, "**Give me my fucking book!**"

Toshiro frowned. He didn't like where this was going.

Another sigh escaped his lips, and he told Sougo, "Sougo, give him back his book."

Sougo rolled his eyes, but tossed the book in a random direction. Sean widened his eyes, and jumped on the ground, where he caught the book.

Toshiro shook his head, but had something in mind. He decided to ask Christine, "What're your names? I nearly forgot to ask you that."

"Eh?" Christine stared at him as if he was crazy. "Our names?"

"Yes."

"Why do you want to know?"

"In case you or your brother do anything stupid in this city," Toshiro crossed his arms.

Christine was about to say her real name, but Sean gave her a look that pretty much said, 'No, let's not give them our real names'.

Christine thought, _That's right. Foreigners aren't allowed in Edo. At least, that's what I remember._

The teenager gave him a sheepish smile, and "introduced" herself, "My name is Christi…ko."

Sean gave her a what-the-hell look, and thought, _Seriously, Christine?!_

Toshiro replied, "Christiko? That's an unusual name."

"It is, but our parents died when we were very small, so we came up with the names ourselves," Christine lied yet again.

Sean knitted his brows, and bit his lower lip to prevent himself from shouting, 'What is happening to your brain right now?!'.

Sougo pointed at Sean, and asked, "What _his_ name, then?"

Before Sean could actually "introduce" himself, Christine answered for him, "Shojaro!"

"Shojaro?!" Sean shouted without thinking. Christine glared at him, and Sean frowned before deciding to play along, "I mean, yes, that is my name."

As he was getting up from the ground, Sougo suspiciously asked, "Why did you shout, then?"

Once again, Christine answered for him, "My brother has short-term memory loss. He forgot his name just now."

Toshiro rolled his eyes, and said, "Whatever. Let's go, Sougo."

Sougo mumbled, "I'll kill you for ordering me like that." Although he sounded calm, a purple aura rose above his head.

They soon walked away, and Christine sighed with relief. But as soon as she was facing her brother, Sean crossed his arms, giving her a harsh glare.

Christine frowned, "What? If you're still mad at Sougo for almost taking your book, then you should be going after him!"

"That's not it," Sean replied. "Out of all the Japanese names you could've used for both of us, why the _hell _did you choose 'Christiko' and 'Shojaro'?! They aren't even names! It's just gibberish!"

Christine bit her lower lip, but she managed to say, "I had to come up with something! You should be happy I at least saved us from going to jail!"

Sean was still glaring at her, but a smirk appeared on his face, and he said, "So you _do _care about me."

"W-Well, I-I…" Christine didn't know what to say to that. She crossed her arms, and mumbled as her cheeks turned red, "P-Perhaps…but that's not important!"

Sean sighed, changing the subject, "Anyway, since our clothes are receiving attention, we're going to have to wear kimonos from now on."

"But how are we going to do that? We don't have any money!"

The man frowned, and held his chin as he replied, "You're right, but we're going to have to earn money…somehow." A sigh escaped his lips, and he added, "We should get a job, though I'm not quite sure if any workers will hire us."

Christine also sighed, "The anime god could've at least given us kimonos."

"Like I said, we're going to have to earn some money."

Christine suddenly widened her eyes. Sean arched a brow, and asked, "Is something wrong, Christine?"

She smiled, "I just got an idea!"

"What?" Sean asked a bit nervously. He was nervous, because Christine's ideas always caused trouble. The last time Christine had an idea, she accidentally broke the bathroom mirror, and she tried to fix it with glue, but that only made the problem worse. So…yeah.

Anyway, Christine said, "We can go to the Yorozuya, and ask them for money!"

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! First, who're the Yorozuya? And second, we can't just ask them for money! That's basically stealing!"

Christine rolled her eyes, "The Yorozuya are the main characters in Gintama. Their names are Gintoki Sakata, Kagura, and Shinpachi Shimura. They're also called 'Odd Jobs', which means they'll do any job, as long as they get money. And you're right. I can't _just_ ask for money."

Now Sean stared at her in confusion. Christine added, "We could work _for _them; that way, they'll be able to give us enough money to buy kimonos!"

Although Christine sounded confident, she had to admit that that was easier said than done. The Yorozuya always had trouble buying food – and not to mention the rent – because they didn't get very many jobs in the past few months. So if they didn't have much money, how were they going to pay Christine and Sean, whether or not they worked for them?

Sean sighed as he rubbed his forehead, "Alright, fine, we'll go to the Yorozuyi."

"It's Yorozuya," Christine corrected him.

Sean rolled his eyes, but they started walking, trying to find the Yorozuya.

While they were walking, Sean snickered, "Hey, Christine."

"What?" She asked without looking at him.

"Why did you hesitate when you lied to those…police officers about where we lived? You usually think quickly."

Christine scowled, "I was panicking, alright?! I do think quickly, but when I'm panicking, I stammer!"

Sean rolled his eyes yet again, but chuckled, "Calm down, Christine." He ruffled Christine's light-brown hair, and added, "I was just teasing you. You may be annoying, but I still love you."

Christine pouted. She hated when people ruffled her hair. The only person who could do that was, well, Christine herself.

Sean told her, "Say that you still love me."

"No!" Christine huffed stubbornly.

"I told you I still love you, so say that you still love me back."

Her cheeks shaded into a reddish blush. She gazed away from her brother, now avoiding eye contact.

Sean grinned, and muttered, "I'll buy you some steak when we get enough money."

Christine immediately snapped her eyes wide, and stared at her brother as she parted her lips. It was obvious enough that she loved steak. Actually, she loved meat in general. She thought, _If I don't say it, I won't get steak! When we earn enough money, that is._

She crossed her arms, and admitted, "I still love you, but _only_ as a brother! And you only love me as a sister, right?"

"Of course I only love you as a sister, Christine," Sean said a matter-of-factly. "I would _never_ love you as anything else. Seriously."

Christine half-smiled, "Good. Anyway, let's find the Yorozuya."

"Right," Sean mumbled before walking again.

* * *

**We'll be meeting the Yorozuya in the next chapter, I promise. And I'll try my best to give the canon character as much screentime as possible (Since I don't want people saying, 'Christine and Sean are taking the spotlight'.). This story is in 3rd-person, after all.**

**Anyway, yes, Christine and Sean will be using their fake names, "Christiko" and "Shojaro" for now (They'll reveal their real names [At least to the Yorozuya] at some point, just not right now). And the fake names aren't supposed to sound Japanese. XD**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 2! :)**


	3. Asking for a place to stay is extremely

**Enjoy!**

**Jalen Kun: I'm glad you like Christine already. ^^ And I will agree that the name "Shojaro" sounds a bit Japanese. LOL I like Yamazaki, though he hardly ever gets any screentime. XP Don't worry, I'm not that good at reviewing either, because I always have nothing to say. :P**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Asking for a place to stay is extremely difficult**

**At Yorozuya Gin-chan's…**

Gintoki Sakata lied on the couch, taking a nap. Kagura was also taking a nap, only she was dreaming of Sougo being tied to a stick, and being almost roasted over the fire. The dream made Kagura snicker. Gintoki, on the other hand, was dreaming about his "wedding" with Ana Ketsuno.

Shinpachi came out of the bathroom, and muttered to himself, "That is the _last _time I'm eating rice with pinto beans." He stared at Gintoki and Kagura, and frowned, "Guys, do you _really _have to sleep on the couch?"

Kagura grumbled inaudible words, but she wasn't awake. Gintoki, however, woke up, and murmured as he sat up, "What? Can't I have a nap every once in a while?"

"Well, you can," Shinpachi replied, shifting a shoulder up. "It's just that…what if a customer comes, and they want to sit down?"

The silver-haired samurai only blinked at the teenager. Shinpachi added as he crossed his arms, "They'd want you _off_ the couch, that way the customer would sit down!"

Gintoki rolled his eyes, and said, waving his hand up and down, "They could just sit on the floor."

"Floors are less comfortable than couches!"

Gintoki was about to respond, but there was a knock on the door. Shinpachi and Gintoki stared at the door with raised brows. Gintoki asked, "Is it that old hag, again? Because I'm _not _in the mood to deal with her right now."

Shinpachi rolled his eyes, and said, "I'll get the door."

**Outside of Yorozuya Gin-chan's…**

Sean stared at his younger sister, and asked with a bit of concern, "Are you _sure _this is where the Yorozuya live?"

Christine rolled her emerald eyes, "Didn't you see the sign above us?" She pointed at the sign above their heads. Sean looked up, and saw the sign, which was written out, 'Yorozuya Gin-chan'.

He frowned, and admitted, "Okay, I didn't see the sign before. There, I admitted it."

Once again, the girl rolled her eyes, but replied, "Anyway, yes, they do live here. Well, actually, Shinpachi lives with his sister. He does sleep here sometimes, though."

Sean blinked, and curiously asked, "What his sisters' name?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious. Can't I get curious?"

Christine chuckled, "Yeah…I was just teasing you." Sean rolled his eyes, but Christine added, "His sisters' name is Tae Shimura. Most of her friends call her 'Otae'."

Christine just remembered something, and she decided to warn her brother, "Sean, I need to warn you…when you meet Tae, make sure you don't insult her. Actually, try not to anger her _at all_."

Sean frowned, and asked, feeling a little worried, "What happens when she gets angry?"

"Whenever she gets angry, she gets _really _violent. She'll either beat you or punch you so hard, that you'll go unconscious in a split second."

Sean widened his eyes, and gulped silently, "How does she even have friends?"

"I've asked myself the same question," Christine muttered.

"I'll try to be careful when I'm around her. Thanks, Christine."

Christine smirked, because Sean thanked her, since he hardly ever thanked to her.

Anyway, they heard footsteps, and they were walking closer and closer to the door. Sweat formed on Sean's forehead, and his body started to shake as he thought, _Why do I feel nervous? I shouldn't feel nervous!_

It was obvious enough that Sean was nervous. He didn't want to look nervous, but it couldn't be helped. Christine, on the other hand, was as calm as a kitten when it was sleeping (If that made any sense).

She stared at Sean, and rolled her eyes as she thought, _What a baby._

Right after her thought, the door opened. Sean yelped, but tried to keep his cool. Both Sean and Christine saw Shinpachi Shimura, who was now staring at them.

Christine said, "Hello! Are you part of the Yorozuya?"

Sean gave the teenage boy an awkward smile, and slightly waved as he greeted, "Hello."

Shinpachi gazed at their clothes, and he closed the door without greeting them.

Sean and Christine widened their eyes, and Christine huffed sarcastically as she landed her hands on her hips, "Well, that was _real _respectful!"

Sean sighed, mumbling under his breath, "So much for working for them…" He held his sister's arm, and told her, "Let's go, they won't bother letting us in."

"Wait, Sean!" Christine told him. "Listen."

Sean raised a brow, wondering what she was talking about. Christine leaned her ear against the door, and Sean frowned, "Christine, you shouldn't be eavesdropping."

"Shh!" Christine shushed him. Sean rolled his eyes, and although he didn't want to do it, he stepped in front of the door, and leaned his ear against it.

Inside the Yorozuya house, Shinpachi whispered to Gintoki and Kagura (Who was fully awake, by the way), "Gin-san, Kagura-chan, there're two people outside, wearing weird clothes."

"Eh? Weird clothes, you say?" Gintoki asked, not even bothering to whisper. "What did they look like?"

Kagura blurted as she crossed her arms, "I bet they're ugly, uh-huh!"

"Kagura-chan!" Shinpachi glared at the girl. "You should _never _say an insult like that! You haven't even seen them, yet!"

"I don't _need_ to see them. I know they're ugly, because ugly people wear ugly clothes, uh-huh."

"I didn't even call their clothes ugly!" Shinpachi started shouting. "Whatever! I'm going to let them in, and ask what they want! I'm sure they're customers!"

"Customers?" Gintoki grinned idiotically. "Well, what're we waiting for?! Let them in, glasses-san!"

"My name's not glasses-san!" Shinpachi shouted, but eventually calmed down when Gintoki and Kagura jumped on one of the couches. Shinpachi rolled his dark eyes, and went back to the front door.

He opened it up again, but this time, he gave them a smile. Christine and Sean smiled at them back (Well, Sean was giving him an awkward smile) as he said, "I apologize for that. It's just that…your clothes are unusual."

"We get that a lot," Christine replied, waving her hand up and down. "Anyway, as I've asked before…are you part of the Yorozuya?"

Shinpachi closed his eyes, and smiled, "Yes, I am. Please come in."

"Thank you." Shinpachi was actually one of Christine's favorite characters. Sure, Shinpachi yelled a lot throughout the Gintama series, but he was still nice (Unless he got angry). Christine understood why he wasn't very loved, but she didn't give a crap. She thought Shinpachi deserved some love…not that she was interested in dating him, or anything.

Anyway, Christine and Sean entered the house, and they both took off their shoes before going into the living room. Gintoki gave them a bored expression while Kagura kicked her legs back and forth.

Christine and Sean sat down on the couch, and Sean stared at the couch as he thought, _This couch doesn't feel very comfortable. But I'm not one to complain._

Gintoki crossed his legs, and asked as he picked his nose with his pinkie, "So…what kind of job do you want us to do? We'll do anything, as long as we get money."

Sean's heart was starting to beat rapidly. He was so nervous about telling the Yorozuya that they didn't come here to request a job for them.

When Christine noticed his scared expression, she brought her lips to his ear, and whispered as she cupped her mouth with her hand, "Don't worry, Sean. I'll take care of this."

Sean whispered back as he also cupped his mouth with his hand, "Are you sure? You do know they're going to be angry when they find out that we don't have a job for them."

"Relax, Sean. They're always angry, anyway, so you shouldn't worry."

Sean just frowned at his sister. Gintoki asked, sounding impatient, "Oi, are you gonna tell us or not?"

Sean yelped quietly, but Christine gave them a huge smile. She blurted with no hesitation, "We actually don't have a job for you to do!"

That's when all of the Yorozuya members stared at them in utter shock. Their bodies turned chalk white as Christine continued to smile.

Sean face-palmed himself as he thought, _We're doomed._

Kagura slammed her hands on the table, and yelled, "What do you mean you don't have a job for us?! If you don't have a job, then leave!"

Shinpachi tried to calm her down by saying, "Kagura-chan, you shouldn't yell at our customers like that."

"Shut it, nerd!"

"I'm not a nerd!" Shinpachi snarled. Kagura crossed her arms, leaning her back on the couch. Shinpachi gave out a sigh, and asked the siblings, "If you don't have a job, then why did you come here?"

Sean spoke up, but stammered as he gave him another cracked smile, "W-We got kicked out of our h-hometown, so we decided to a-ask you for help." He didn't like to lie, but they couldn't tell them they were from the real world. Otherwise the Yorozuya wouldn't believe them, and Gintoki would most likely tell them to go to the hospital to check if they were mentally retarded.

"Help?" Shinpachi asked suspiciously as he raised a brow.

Christine stared at her brother, and asked rhetorically, "Brother, didn't I say I was going to take care of this?"

"Oh, so you're brother-and-sister?" Shinpachi questioned in slight surprise.

"Yep!" Christine cheered as if it was the best thing in the world. "He's my brother, though he tends to boss me around."

Sean glared at her, but didn't say anything.

Christine explained, "As my brother said, we got kicked out of our hometown. We had nowhere to go, but we heard about you three, so we decided to go to you. So…we were just wondering if we could stay here for now, and work for you."

"Wait, wait, hold on a second!" Gintoki halted as he lifted a hand up to silence the girl. "You want to work for us, meaning…you want _me _to pay _you_?"

"Yeah, basically…" Christine didn't want to admit it, but she was also nervous. In fact, she was just as nervous as Sean.

Her cheeks shaded into a pinkish blush as she thought, _Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?! Maybe I should take off my jacket._

She took off her gray jacket, and wrapped it around her waist. Sean said, trying not to anger the silver-haired samurai, "B-But you could j-just split the money up when you g-get paid from other c-customers! We're not very g-greedy or anything!"

Gintoki ran his fingers through his wavy hair, and sighed a bit angrily, "That sounds very selfish of you two."

"We know," Sean admitted shamefully.

Gintoki crossed his arms, and asked, "Before I even decide whether or not you'll stay here, I want you to answer a few questions. First, why did you two get kicked out of your hometown?"

Christine quickly answered, "We caused too much trouble in our hometown. It pissed tons of people off, so we got kicked out. We were told to never come back."

Sean "corrected", "Actually, sis, _you_ always caused trouble. I was forced to go with you."

"That's because you're my brother!"

"Next question!" Gintoki exclaimed, signaling them to shut up. "Didn't you have parents?"

"They died," Christine, once again, answered.

"Okay…why are you two wearing weird clothes?"

"Our hometown wears these types of clothes."

"Are you two thieves?"

"Absolutely not!" Sean exclaimed, glaring at the man.

Christine elbowed him in the hip, and Sean grunted in pain as he rubbed his hip.

Gintoki asked yet another question, "Now the final question…what're your names, and how old are you two?"

Shinpachi said, "Uh, Gin-san, that's two questions."

Since Christine and Sean weren't going to say their real names (For now), Christine answered, "I'm Christiko, and this is Shojaro."

Sean's brow twitched as he muttered, "Nice to meet you."

_I better get used to my fake name. Otherwise I'll get really irritated._

Shinpachi frowned, "Christiko and Shojaro? Those names sound…odd."

"It is odd," Christine agreed. "Anyway, I'm 16, and Shojaro here is 19. So he's only three years older than me." That was the only part that was true (That, and they really weren't thieves).

"Hm," Gintoki held his chin, still contemplating on whether or not to let them stay.

Christine asked, "So what do you say? Will you let us stay for now? We promise to work hard. We'll even help you with future jobs!"

Gintoki took a deep breath, and answered, "No."

"EH?!" Christine practically shouted in shock.

"I said no. You two won't stay with us. For your information, we haven't had very many jobs in the past few months, so even if you worked for us – or even helped us during the job – you wouldn't get very much money."

Christine and Sean had their jaws dropped. Gintoki added, waving them off, "So you're out of luck. If you don't have a _real_ job request for us, then leave. I have enough problems taking care of these two brats." Kagura and Shinpachi glared at him, but Gintoki, not surprisingly, ignored them.

"But-" Christine tried to convince Gintoki to let them stay, but Sean rested a hand on her shoulder.

The girl gazed at Sean as he said, "Let's go, Christiko. He doesn't want us here." The corner of his lip twitched when he said "Christiko".

Christine frowned, but nodded, and stood up from the couch. Sean followed, and they both walked towards the door. They put their shoes on, and Christine turned her head, seeing Gintoki with a serious expression.

Christine huffed, "And I thought you were the idiotic samurai!"

"Oi!" Gintoki hollered. "I can get serious, too, you know!"

The light-brown haired girl rolled her eyes, but she and Sean walked out of the Yorozuya house.

Shinpachi frowned at the man, and asked, "Gin-san, don't you think you were being a bit harsh? I mean, they don't have anywhere to go. They were kicked out of their own hometown!"

Gintoki picked his nose again, and replied, "They were being very selfish. Asking for work and to stay with us…they just want to take my money!"

"They weren't being _that_ selfish! Sure, they want to work with us, just to get money, but they're practically homeless! I highly doubt they would want to steal _your_ money!"

Kagura said, "Don't worry, Shinpachi. They'll survive. I mean, look at Madao, for instance! He's been in the streets for god-know-how-long, and he manages to survive, uh-huh!"

"You're not helping!" Shinpachi exclaimed.

Gintoki said as he got off the couch, "I need some strawberry milk."

Shinpachi sighed, and thought as he rubbed his forehead, _How am I going to convince Gin-san to let Christiko-san and Shojaro-san stay here? I mean, they have nowhere to go._

Shinpachi tried to think of a way to convince Gintoki, but so far, he came up with nothing. They were being selfish, but Shinpachi had a bit of sympathy for them, because they didn't have anywhere to live (At least in the Gintama world).

What was he going to do?

**Meanwhile…**

Christine and Sean walked into a different alleyway, because people were staring at them again. Sean was the one who wanted them to be in the alleyway, because he was the most self-conscious. Christine, on the other hand, didn't give a crap if people stared at her.

They were both sitting down, having their backs on the wall. They also rested their arms on their knees, and neither of them said a word since they left the Yorozuya house.

But Sean broke the silence by asking, "What should we do now?"

"We could get something to eat," Christine muttered. "I'm getting hungry."

"I'm hungry too, but like you said, we don't have any money. And even if we had money, people in this city wouldn't accept it, because we're American's."

"Yeah…" Christine sighed, and mumbled as she buried her face in her arms, "I want my steak."

"Banana bread sounds good," Sean mumbled also. Banana bread was Sean's favorite food. He's been a huge fan of it since he was a child, and whenever he was about to eat it, his mouth would literally drool.

Sean felt a bit bored, so he grabbed his book, and opened it. Christine had nothing to do, so she just hummed.

Out of curiosity, Christine asked, "Sean, where do you even hide that book?"

"I put it in my pants."

"You mean in your pockets?"

He shook his head, "No, I mean my pants itself."

Christine frowned, "That's sick, Sean."

"My book doesn't go in my pants completely! It only goes halfway in, behind my belt!"

"Uh-huh, sure. You're sick, bro."

"Oh, shut up!" Sean snarled before reading his book.

**A few hours later…**

Shinpachi walked through the streets, trying to find Christine and Sean. It started to rain about an hour ago, so he held an umbrella over his head, to prevent himself from getting wet. He wanted to find those two when it began to rain, but Gintoki forced him to buy more strawberry milk. Not surprisingly, Gintoki was too lazy to get it himself. Shinpachi managed to get him the milk, but he was obviously angry at Gintoki for forcing him to go to the store.

Anyway, he wanted to find Christine and Sean, because he was worried about them being in the rain with no umbrella. And when you're in the rain with no umbrella, then you might get sick, or even worse, get hypothermia.

A sigh escaped the teenager's lips as he thought, _I hope Christiko-san and Shojaro-san are alright. I don't want them to get sick from all this rain._

He looked both way, but suddenly saw two figures in a somewhat dark alleyway. Shinpachi stopped walking, and arched a brow as he added in thought, _Is that them?_

Shinpachi quickly walked towards the alleyway, and when he was close enough, he poked his head in, and saw none other than Christine and Sean.

He exclaimed, "Christiko-san! Shojaro-san!"

Both Christine and Sean yelped, and they glared at him as Christine exclaimed back, "Don't scare us like that!"

"Sorry. I was looking for you two."

"Why, though?" Sean asked as he protected his book from the rain (Even though he and Christine were under the rooftop).

Shinpachi sighed, "For two reasons. One: I was worried about you two, since it was raining. And two: I convinced Gin-san to let you stay at his place."

"What?" Sean and Christine asked at the same time.

Christine put her pinkie in her ear, and asked, "What did you just say?"

Shinpachi smiled, "I said I convinced Gin-san to let you two stay."

Christine immediately stood up, and questioned, "How did you convince him?"

"I beat him up, and told him that you two had nowhere to go."

"Well, that is true," Sean muttered as he also stood up. He decided to ask Shinpachi as he scratched the back of his neck, "Were you really worried about us?"

Shinpachi nodded. Sean bit his lower lip, and tilted his head as he slightly smiled, "Well, thanks for worrying about us."

Shinpachi replied, "Anyway, Gin-san said that if you want to stay at his place, and get paid, then you're going to have to be with us when we're doing our jobs."

Christine tapped her chin with her forefinger, and asked, trying to make it clearer, "Does that mean we're going to also work while you, Gintoki, and Kagura are working as well?"

Shinpachi raised a brow in confusion, but nodded, "Yes."

"And we'll also get paid if we work?"

"Yes."

Christine gave him a huge smile, and exclaimed as she suddenly gave him a hug, "Thank you, Shinpachi-san! I'm so glad you convinced Gintoki to let us stay!"

"Hey, don't mention it," Shinpachi smiled back as he patted her back.

Christine decided to ask, "Oh, can I call you Shinpachi-san? I realized I accidentally said your first name, since we don't know each other."

"I don't mind that."

"Good! You're such a cool person, Shinpachi-san!"

"Um…thanks?" Shinpachi felt pretty flattered by that.

Christine drifted the hug away, and told her brother, "Come on, Shojaro. Let's head back to Gintoki's place."

"Right," Sean chuckled.

Shinpachi suggested, "Oh, since it's raining, how about you two stand under my umbrella? I don't want you two to get a cold."

"Sure thing!" Christine cheered right before running under the umbrella, standing next to Shinpachi. Sean sighed, and followed her, where he was also under the umbrella.

They started walking back to Gintoki's house, and while Christine and Sean were making sure to not get wet, Christine asked, "Say, Shinpachi-san. Do you think Kagura-chan's into dating?"

Sean gave her a what-the-hell look as Shinpachi suspicious stared at the green-eyed girl. He responded a bit hesitantly, "No…why do you ask?"

Christine shrugged, "No reason. Though, I'm kind of into her."

Shinpachi's mouth agape, and he also gave her a what-the-hell look. Sean wanted to scream, 'Okay, now you're mentally retarded', but for some reason, those words couldn't escape his mouth.

Shinpachi questioned, "Uh, have you two even met? Aside from earlier, I mean."

"No, but I have seen her a few times."

A question popped into Shinpachi's mind. He didn't want to ask, but his curiosity got the best of him.

"I really don't mean to be rude, Christiko-san, but…are you gay?"

Christine answered as she landed her hands on her hips, "I'm only gay for Kagura-chan!"

Sean and Shinpachi stared at her awkwardly. Kagura was Christine's most favorite female in Gintama, not surprisingly, but she has had a crush on her since a few months after she started watching Gintama.

Shinpachi gave the teenage girl a cracked smile, and said, "Okay…this is pretty awkward."

"I couldn't agree more," Sean mumbled.

Shinpachi landed a hand on Christine's shoulder, and suggested, "Christiko-san, don't tell Kagura-chan that, okay?"

"What? That I'm only gay for her?"

"Yeah. I don't want her to be creeped out by this, so let's keep it a secret, alright?"

She shrugged once more, "Okay, then."

Shinpachi sighed, and the trio continued their walk back to Gintoki's.

Shinpachi was just hoping Christine wouldn't do anything weird to Kagura.

* * *

**Before you ask, Christine is _straight_. She just loves Kagura in a...weird way, I guess. :P LOL**

**Anyway, I've decided that in every chapter, I'll be asking random (And not-so-random) questions in the bottom of the authors note. I'll also answer my own questions on the next update of this story. Why am I doing this? No reason, actually.**

**_Question of the update: _What's your favorite color(s)?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 3! :)**


	4. Putting bars on a ball makes zero sense

**Enjoy!**

**Guest: Well, Christine's a weirdo, so...yeah. XD**

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**Chapter 4: Putting bars on a ball makes zero sense**

It was now nighttime. During the past few hours, Christine and Sean had been ignoring Gintoki, because he was being a jerk to them when he, at first, told them that they couldn't stay here. However, Shinpachi – as mentioned in the last chapter – managed to convince Gintoki, so Sean and Christine were going to stay at the Yorozuya's house for now.

Shinpachi had already left, and Kagura went into her closet, now going to sleep. Gintoki faced Sean and Christine, and told them as he landed his hands on his hips, "Alright, you two. You're going to have to sleep on the couches from now on."

Christine replied as she scratched her cheek, "I'm fine with that."

Sean stared at the couch, and thought, _The couch was uncomfortable when I was sitting on it, so I'm not even sure if I'll be comfortable sleeping on it._

He didn't like to complain, so he sighed, "Same here. Oh, by the way, where're the blankets?"

Gintoki pointed at the closet Kagura was sleeping in, and answered in a dull tone, "They're in that closet. Try not to wake Kagura up, though. She goes insane when her sleep is interrupted."

Christine immediately walked over to the closet, opened it up, and grabbed two blankets. She closed the closet door, and walked back to the couch.

She tossed one to Sean, and said, "Here you go, bro."

As soon as Sean caught the soft blanket, Christine sat on the couch, and said to the silver-haired man, "'Night, Gintoki-san."

Gintoki rolled his crimson eyes, and replied as he walked away from them, "'Night, you brats."

Sean frowned, but as soon as Gintoki went into his room, he sighed, and whispered to his younger sister, "Christine, are we _really _going to have to sleep on the couches?"

Christine blankly stared at him, and whispered back, "Yeah. We can't just sleep on the floor. That'd be uncomfortable."

"I know. It's just that…I'm not very fond of these couches. They don't feel very…comfy."

The teenager rolled her eyes, "Well, you're going to have to get used to it. Otherwise you'll have bags under your eyes."

Sean's frown deepened, but he replied with yet another sigh, "Dammit."

_Guess I have no choice but to sleep on that couch._

The 19-year-old sat on the other couch as Christine lied down, and pulled the blanket over herself. Though she didn't want to sleep in her clothes, she refused to ask Gintoki for a yukata. He probably didn't have any, anyway, since he tends to wear those green…pajamas. Besides, Christine could tolerate sleeping in her clothes.

Christine just forgot something, so she asked her brother, "Sean, could you get the pillows?"

"Are they in the closet?" Sean asked.

Christine responded as she supported her head by resting it in her palm, "Yeah."

Sean walked over to the closet, and opened it, seeing Kagura. He was beginning to wonder why she was sleeping in a closet (Christine told him that it was Kagura's "bedroom"), since closets weren't supposed to be used for sleeping.

But he ignored the Yato, and grabbed two fluffy pillows. He managed to not wake Kagura up, but he thought, _I don't get that girl._

He gave Christine a pillow, and walked back to the couch he was sitting on. Christine smiled, "Thanks."

Sean didn't reply, but he nodded at her. As he set the pillow on the couch he was going to sleep in, he decided to ask, "Christine, are you _sure_ you won't try to kiss Kagura?"

Christine frowned, and glared at him, "Why're you bringing _this _up?! I told you and Shinpachi-san before: I'm _not_ going to kiss Kagura-chan while we're in this world!"

"Okay…I just thought you were going to try to kiss her while we're here, because you're apparently in love with her."

She glared at him harder, "For your information, I do love her, so don't put the word 'apparently' in that sentence."

"Too late, I already did."

Christine rolled her emerald eyes, and rested her head on her pillow as she said, "Anyway, I'm going to bed, so good-night."

"Good-night," Sean chuckled as he also lied down. He covered his body with the blanket, and pulled out his book.

He stared at it, and thought, _I want to read, but it's too dark to see anything. Perhaps I'll read tomorrow._

He shrugged his shoulders, and placed the book on the coffee table. Sean was aware that someone would take his book while he was sleeping, but luckily, he was a light-sleeper, so if anyone would even dare to steal his book, Sean would immediately wake up, and beat the crap out of them. Yeah, he really loved that book. It was like his baby…who couldn't speak, and had no body parts.

Anyway, Sean turned his body, and went to sleep.

**The next day…**

Gintoki exited his bedroom, dressed and fully awake, and went into the living room, seeing Christine and Sean still sleeping on the couches. Although it was still early in the morning, Gintoki held a megaphone up, and as soon as it was in front of his mouth, he turned it on, and said, "Oi, wake up, you brats."

Christine and Sean immediately widened their eyes, and they both fell off the couches, hitting the floor. Christine yelled, "GAH!"

Sean yelled, "Banana bread!"

When their backs hit the hardwood floor, they grunted in pain. The Wardenhall siblings slowly leaned up, and Christine glared at the man, "What the hell was that for?!"

"You two needed to get up."

The girl rubbed her back as Gintoki spotted a book on the coffee table. He raised a silver brow, and asked as he was walking towards the table, "Where did this book come from?"

Sean gasped quietly, and before Gintoki could reach it, Sean grabbed his book, and held it close to his chest.

He growled, "Don't you steal my book!"

Gintoki frowned, "I wasn't going to steal your book. I was just wondering where it came from. But now I know that it's yours."

"It is mine, and don't even try taking it away from me!"

Christine blankly stared at her older brother, and said, "Shojaro, you really treat your book like a baby."

Sean rolled his eyes, "No, I don't."

Just then, the front door opened. Shinpachi entered the Yorozuya house, and greeted, "Good-morning!" He walked over to the closet, and opened up as he told Kagura, "Time to get up!"

Kagura groaned, but was able to get up in a matter of seconds. A yawn escaped her lips, and she stepped out of the closet as she told Gintoki, "Gin-chan, I want sukonbu for breakfast."

He ignored the female Yato, and when Shinpachi saw the megaphone in Gintoki's hand, he frowned, and asked, "Gin-san, did you wake Christiko-san and Shojaro-san with that megaphone?"

"Yeah," Gintoki admitted as he picked his nose with his pinkie.

Shinpachi's frown deepened as he replied, "That was kind of cruel of you."

"These brats needed to get up."

"Why do you keep calling us brats, anyway?!" Christine snarled.

Gintoki answered as he slightly glared at the teenage girl, "Because I have too many kids in this damn house."

Sean corrected him, "Actually, I'm 19, so technically, I'm not really a kid."

Gintoki rolled his dead-fished eyes, "You look like a kid, so I'm going to call you a kid as well."

Sean glared at him, but didn't say anything else.

Then, all of a sudden, a knock came at the door.

The Yorozuya, Sean, and Christine stared at the door, wondering who it could be. Shinpachi said, "I'll get it."

He walked towards the door, and Kagura – who was fully dressed – sat on the couch as she ordered Sean and Christine, "Oi, weirdos! Put these pillows and blankets away!"

Sean grumbled inaudible words as Christine grabbed the blankets and pillows. She went to the closet, and put them away.

Sean thought as he sat next to Kagura, _Since when did Kagura have the right to order people around?_

Shinpachi opened up the door, and saw a man with messy and facial hair. He wore a gray loose kimono, with a black sash.

The man smiled, and asked, "Are you the Yorozuya?"

Shinpachi widened his eyes, and thought, _Do we finally have a customer?_

He smiled back, and answered, "Yes, we are. Please come in." The teenager allowed the man to come in, and he took off his sandals before entering the house.

Gintoki raised his silver brows in slight surprise, and jumped on the couch, next to Sean. He pushed Sean off of the couch, and Sean yelped as his knees hit the floor.

Sean scowled, "What did you do that for?!"

Gintoki told him, "Whenever we get customers, only me, Kagura, and Shinpachi sit on the couch."

Christine grabbed Sean's arm, and pulled him up as she muttered, "We'll just have to stand behind the couch, Shojaro."

Sean rolled his eyes, but he and Christine walked behind the couch as Gintoki and Shinpachi sat down.

The man sat on the other couch, and Gintoki crossed his legs as he asked, "So…what job request do you have for us?" Although he sounded bored, he was eager to find out what kind of job the man wanted them to do.

The man answered, "Well, first off, my name is Rikuro Amitsu. I am a worker at a carnival a few miles outside of Edo."

Gintoki waved his hand up and down, and told him anxiously, "That's nice, but tell me what your job request is."

Despite Gintoki's rudeness, Rikuro chuckled, "You want to get working, don't you? Alright, I'll tell you." Rikuro cleared his throat, and explained the job request, "You see, I got myself a big, clear rolling ball."

"Huh?" Gintoki asked in confusion.

Rikuro sighed, "I don't remember what they're called, but it's one of those big balls, where you go in, and walk in it, making the ball roll."

Sean corrected him, "They're called zorb balls."

"Oh, that's it! Thank you."

Sean just smiled.

Kagura snapped her cerulean eyes wide, and exclaimed, "I want to go in it!"

Rikuro chuckled once again, "As I was saying, I have gotten the zorb ball all ready to go, but I'm terrified about it popping, so…I'd like you to put metal bars on that; that way, there's a lesser chance of the ball popping."

"That's the job request?" Shinpachi asked.

Rikuro nodded, but when he noticed Sean and Christine, he asked while pointing at them, "Are those two part of the Yorozuya as well?"

Shinpachi scratched the back of his neck as he answered with a small smile, "You could say that, though they won't be staying here forever."

"I see," The man replied. "Anyway, I'd like you five to come with me. I'm pretty anxious to show you."

The Yorozuya stood up, and Shinpachi told Christine and Sean, "Christiko-san, Shojaro-san, since you two will be with us from now on, I expect you to work."

Christine nodded, "Of course, Shinpachi-san. We want to work with you, because we want to get paid. And the first thing Shojaro and I are going to get, when we get paid, are new clothes."

"I understand that, Christiko-san, but I must warn you…Gin-san hardly ever pays us."

Again, she nodded, "I'm going to be aware of that, but if he doesn't pay us, I'll kick him in the nuts."

Shinpachi gave her a cracked smile, and thought, _Wow, I'm surprised she's not embarrassed by saying that._

Shinpachi sighed as he and the others put on their shoes, and walked out the door.

**20 minutes later…**

They arrived at a worn-out building, and right outside, there was a zorb ball – like Rikuro said – and some metal bars.

Rikuro showed them the bars, and politely ordered, "Alright, so I want you five to put the bars on the ball."

Christine just realized something, and asked the man, "Excuse me, but I just figured out something. When we're putting bars on the zorb ball, won't that make it difficult for people – who get in the ball – to see?"

Rikuro answered, "Don't worry, young lady. The bars aren't that thick, so people will be able to see through the ball."

Christine nodded briefly, but added, "Also, I know you said that you were terrified of the zorb ball popping, but they actually don't pop that easily."

Sean held his chin, and said, "You know, for once, she's right."

"What do you mean 'for once'?!" Christine snarled.

Rikuro was now glaring at the girl, but he was still able to say calmly, "You're still going to put bars on it, so don't put words in my mouth."

Christine rolled her eyes, and thought, _And here, I thought he would be a kind man._

Rikuro gave the Yorozuya another smile, and told them, "Anyway, I'll be back in about two hours."

"Where're _you_ going?" Gintoki asked.

"I have to do some errands."

"Hm," Gintoki hummed.

"Well, see ya!" With that, Rikuro left.

Gintoki scratched his wavy hair, and muttered, "Alright, brats. Time to get to work."

Sean and Shinpachi rolled their eyes, but they walked over to the metal bars, and picked them up. The bars were also a bit curvy.

Christine "examined" the bar, and asked her older brother, "Sean, how many inches do you think these bars are?"

Sean shrugged as he guessed, "Probably about two inches."

Shinpachi picked up a random bar, and grabbed a hammer as he said to no one in particular, "How exactly are we going to put the bars on the zorb ball?"

Kagura heard him, and said as she put glue – which came out of nowhere – on the bar, "Easy, Shinpachi. We just put glue on it, and it'll stick on the zork ball, uh-huh!"

Sean corrected her, "It's a _zorb _ball."

Kagura ignored him, and put the bar – with the glue on it, of course – on the zorb ball. Kagura smiled, and was about to cheer, but the bar slid down the ball, and it eventually fell off, landing on the ground.

The Yato frowned, and complained, "Why won't it stick?!"

Gintoki held the megaphone again, and said through it, "Oi, Kagura, you're supposed to hold onto the bar until the glue dries out."

Since he was right next to Shinpachi, Shinpachi flinched, and yelled, "Gin-san, why do you still have that megaphone?! Where did you even get that, anyway?!"

Gintoki lied, "I bought it off of the internet."

"We don't even have a computer! And also, even if the glue dries out, the bars will just fall off!"

Sean said as he held two bars, "Guys."

The Yorozuya looked at him, and Sean added, "There's _super_ glue. I believe the one Kagura-chan used was just regular glue." He pointed at the bottle of super glue (Apparently, the Yorozuya didn't see it there before).

Shinpachi raised a brow, and asked, "Does that mean Amitsu-san wanted us to use glue in the first place?"

Sean shrugged, "Apparently."

Shinpachi sighed, "Then I guess we'll need to use the super glue. Hopefully, the bars will actually stick onto the ball."

Sean looked around, and frowned, "Say, where's my sister?"

As if on cue, Christine came back, and exclaimed while holding some rope, "Here I am!"

The man frowned, and asked, "Christiko, why do you have that rope?"

Christine answered, "In case some asshole tries to hurt me."

"That…doesn't make much sense, but whatever." Sean turned around, and put a little bit of super glue on the bar.

After about an hour of working, they were finally done. The bars were on the ball, and from how it looked, it looked more like a prison than a zorb ball.

Gintoki murmured, "Phew, we're finally done."

Kagura cheered, "Yay! Can we ride in the fork ball now, Gin-chan?!"

"First off, it's called a porn ball. Secondly, I believe we should wait until the old man comes back."

Sean frowned, "No, it's called a _zorb _ball. But I will agree; we probably need to wait for that man to come back. Then we can ask him if we can ride in it."

Christine stubbornly said, "But I want to ride in it _now_!"

"Same here!" Kagura agreed. She and Christine went through the "tunnel", and they entered the zorb ball. As they looked around the inside of the ball, Kagura added, "I feel like I'm in jail, uh-huh!"

Christine muttered, "I don't get why that old man wanted us to put bars on it. It makes no sense."

Shinpachi scowled, "Kagura-chan! Christiko-san! Get out of the ball this instant!"

"Psh, you're not my mom!" Christine snorted.

Sean put his hands on his hips as he told her, "Christiko, get out of there! Don't make me pull you out!"

He took a few steps forward, but Christine widened her eyes, and exclaimed, "Let's get moving, Kagura-chan!"

"Yes!" Kagura exclaimed back before she and Christine walked in the ball, making it roll.

Sean snapped his eyes wide, and snarled, "Oh no, you don't!"

"Eep! Faster!" Christine commanded as they rolled the ball faster.

Soon, they were rolling down a small hill. Sean's jaw dropped, and he yelled, "What the heck?!"

Gintoki rested a hand on Sean's shoulder, and when Sean looked at him, Gintoki said, "They'll be fine."

"How can you be so sure?!" Sean snarled.

Gintoki admitted, "I'm not."

Sean face-palmed himself.

Meanwhile, Christine and Kagura didn't stop rolling the ball, but Christine said, "I think we lost them."

Kagura looked back, and raised a brow, replying, "Hm, I expected Gin-chan to chase us, uh-huh."

Christine decided to change the subject, "Anyway, where should we go?"

Kagura tapped her chin for a moment before answering, "Let's try to roll on the rooftops."

Christine frowned, "How're we gonna do _that_?"

"Easy." She rolled to a random house, and told the light-brown haired girl, "I'll jump."

Christine was a bit confused, but Kagura crouched down, and then jumped, pushing the top of the zorb ball. Christine yelped as she fell down, hitting her stomach on the plastic.

The zorb ball was now on the rooftop, and Christine yelled, "How the hell did you _do_ that?!"

Kagura shrugged, but didn't bother answering her question.

Christine managed to stand up, and they both continued to roll the ball.

But an old man opened up a window, and saw them. He screamed, "Hey! What do you brats think you're doing?!"

Kagura yelled, "We're riding in our new jail ball, uh-huh!"

Christine agreed, "Yeah!"

The man hollered, "Well, get off my rooftop before I call the cops!"

They both ignored him, and they eventually got off of the rooftop. As soon as they hit the ground, Christine, once again, fell down.

"Ah!" Christine yelped as Kagura ignored her. Christine was trying to get up, but Kagura was rolling the ball yet again, which meant that Christine couldn't get up, no matter how hard she tried.

Kagura suddenly saw Sougo and Toshiro walking down the streets. She snickered, and thought, _Today will be the day I trample over that sadist, uh-huh!_

Without warning Christine, she ran full speed. Christine widened her eyes in shock, and because Kagura was running really fast, Christine was practically rolling, along with the ball. To Christine, it felt like a rollercoaster with no seatbelt. And since rollercoasters made her nauseous, she felt like she was about to throw up.

She thought, _Don't let me throw up! Don't let me throw up!_

Kagura screamed, "OI! SADIST!"

Sougo blinked, and turned, seeing the zorb ball heading his way. Toshiro's jaw dropped, and he yelled, "Sougo! Get out of the way before that thing hits you!" Toshiro stood beside a house, but Sougo just stood there with no expression.

When the zorb ball was only inches away from his face, Sougo quickly stood to the side, and smirked, "Nice try, China."

Kagura yelled, "You asshooooleee!"

Although she was angry, she didn't stop running in the ball.

Christine exclaimed, "K-Kagura-chan! St-Stop running so fast! I'm gonna throw up!"

"Don't throw up yet, weirdo girl!" Kagura told her.

Christine groaned as her stomach started to rumble. She covered her mouth, trying hard to not puke.

Kagura stared at the girl, and raised a brow, wondering if she really was going to vomit. But when she didn't pay attention to the road, the bars on the zorb ball hit something, and all of a sudden…they were going up a building.

Kagura widened her eyes in surprise, and saw that they – or she, since Christine was still rolling on the ball – were rolling on a tall building. Kagura exclaimed, "Okay…how the hell am I _doing_ this?! This is unbelievable…but awesome, uh-huh!"

The salmon-haired Yato ran faster, and Christine asked, "Wh-Where are we?!"

"We're rolling on the building, uh-huh!" Kagura responded.

"Wait, what?!" Christine questioned in disbelief.

They were eventually on top of the building, and Kagura stopped walking, meaning that the ball stopped rolling.

Christine panted heavily, and poked her head out of the "tunnel" before puking. Kagura gave her a disgusted expression as she exclaimed, "Whew! That stinks, uh-huh!"

After a moment of puking, Christine finally stopped. She sat down in the zorb ball, and panted, "I'm so dizzy…"

Kagura rolled her eyes, "Get up, weirdo girl."

"Is that what you're going to call me?" Christine snorted as a smirk crept up her face.

As she was slowly getting up, Kagura replied, "Yep, because you're weird, uh-huh."

Christine laughed, and finally got up. She asked, "Did you really roll on a building?"

"I did. I didn't expect myself to do it, though."

"Wait…" Christine realized something. "Are we on top of the building now?"

"Yeah…why?"

Christine frowned, "We're going to have to roll off this building, aren't we?"

Kagura smiled, "Don't worry, weirdo girl! The building we're on isn't that high up! At least, I don't think so."

Christine hesitated, "…I think I should see how high we're off the ground." She exited out of the ball, and walked across the roof.

When she was at the end of the rooftop, she looked down, and found out that she and Kagura were _really_ high up.

Her heart dropped, and she widened her eyes in utter shock as she thought, _Oh shit. I feel terrified now._

She quickly walked back to the zorb ball, and slid through the tunnel as Kagura asked, "Are you okay? You look like a dead pig, uh-huh."

Christine only said, "Let's go."

Kagura didn't quite understand why Christine looked petrified, but she shrugged her shoulders, and started rolling the ball again. This time, Christine rolled as well.

Kagura asked the girl suspiciously, "Weirdo girl, is there something you're not telling me?"

Christine whimpered, "We're really high up. Possibly higher than you think."

"Huh?"

Just then, the ball was off the building, and they were falling down.

As they were falling towards the ground, Kagura and Christine were screaming their lungs out as they were now "flying" in the ball.

While they were still screaming, Christine wrapped her arms around Kagura's shoulders, and hugged her tightly as she yelled out, "I don't wanna die!"

Christine's heart began to beat rapidly. She was praying to god (Even though she's an atheist) that she wouldn't die like this. She obviously didn't want to die before she returned home.

From what seemed like an eternity, the zorb ball finally hit the ground. Kagura and Christine hit the bottom of the ball, and gave out an "oof". They weren't injured, thankfully, but they were pretty dizzy.

Kagura rubbed her head as she muttered under her breath, "That was quite a ride, uh-huh."

Christine said, "Let's go back."

With that, they were rolling back to Sean and the Yorozuya.

Minutes have passed, and when they returned to the others, Sean crossed his arms, and yelled, "Are you done with your ride now, Christiko?!"

Christine hesitantly got out of the ball, and she sheepishly smiled at her brother. Kagura also got out, but said to Gintoki and Shinpachi, "That was pretty fun, uh-huh."

Shinpachi frowned, "We were worried about you two, Kagura-chan."

Sean agreed as he glared at Christine, "Yeah, I was _very_ worried about you, Christiko!" He was used to saying "Christiko", but he still didn't like it.

Christine shifted a shoulder up, and felt her cheeks grow hot in embarrassment.

Sean sighed as she patted her head, "Don't leave us like that again, okay?"

"Okay," She mumbled.

Another hour had passed, and Rikuro returned, giving the Yorozuya their money. Rikuro smiled, "Thank you very much for your hard work."

Gintoki nodded as he stared at the envelope, full of money. He thought anxiously, _I wonder how much money is in this._

Sean tapped Gintoki on the shoulder, and when Gintoki looked at his emerald-colored eyes, Sean asked, "Are you really going to pay me and Christiko?"

"Eh? Why're you asking that?" Gintoki questioned.

Sean crossed his arms, "I've heard that you're lazy, and don't bother paying Shinpachi and Kagura."

Gintoki rolled his eyes, and replied with a hint of annoyance in his tone, "I'll pay you before I go to bed, alright?"

Sean stared at him skeptically, but Christine grabbed Gintoki's arm, and warned him, "If you don't pay us by tomorrow, I'm going to kick you in the balls."

Gintoki widened his eyes, and exclaimed, "Oi! You wouldn't want to do that to a grown man, would you?!"

Christine tightened her grip on his arm, causing Gintoki to flinch in pain.

Sean sighed, "Alright, Christiko, that's enough."

The teenager almost immediately let go of Gintoki's arm. As Sean, Christine, and the Yorozuya were heading back to Gintoki's house, Sean whispered in his sisters' ear, "Would you really kick him in the groin if he didn't pay us?"

Christine whispered back, "Yes."

Sean frowned, but didn't say anything. He gave out a sigh, and thought, _I can't wait to get new clothes. That way, people won't stare at us._

* * *

**I was actually a little hesitant while writing this chapter at first, but I needed to post another chapter, so yeah. XP**

**Anyway, if you don't know what a zorb ball is, look it up on Wikipedia. By the way, don't ask why Rikuro made the Yorozuya - plus Christine and Sean - put bars on the ball, because it's not supposed to make sense. LOL**

_**My answer from the previous question: **_**My favorite color is purple. I used to love pink, but I grew out of it, so now I hate it. LOL**

_**Question of the update: **_**In your opinion, what's the most overrated anime ever?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 4! :)**


	5. When you're deathly afraid of hospitals

**Enjoy!**

**Hobozrule: First off, awesome pen name. XD Secondly, no, there won't be any pairings (I mentioned that in the summary) in this story. Besides, I don't like OkiKagu. Sorry. :/**

* * *

**Chapter 5: When you're deathly afraid of hospitals, make sure to stay far away from them**

**The next day…**

Gintoki had managed to pay Sean and Christine last night. But he only did that because he didn't want Christine to kick him in the nuts.

Anyway, Shinpachi decided to bring them to the clothes' store, and when they entered it, Christine widened her eyes in amazement. Sean rolled his eyes, and thought, _Why is she this excited to be in a store? It's a clothing store, for crying out loud!_

Christine's emerald eyes sprarkled, and she turned around, facing Shinpachi and Sean. She exclaimed, "What kind of kimono should I get?!"

"Whatever you want, as long as it's not too inappropriate," Shinpachi told her with a small smile.

Christine nodded, and started running through the store. Sean frowned, and exclaimed, "Don't run in the store, Christiko!"

Of course, Christine didn't listen to him. Instead, she searched through various racks, and smiled at the colorful kimonos.

Sean's frown deepened, and he sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Darn it, Christiko."

Shinpachi said, "Shojaro-san, I realized that you hardly cursed. Well, not that I want you to curse, but still."

Sean shrugged, "I try not to curse too much. If I curse excessively, then people will think I have a bad mouth. But when I am angry, I say a few curse words, including the 'F' word."

Shinpachi replied, "I understand. I don't curse very often either, but sometimes I do whenever I'm angry at Gin-san or Kagura-chan."

"Heh," Sean chuckled. "I guess we're on the same boat, then."

The comment puzzled Shinpachi, but the teenage boy shrugged his shoulders as he changed the subject, "Anyway, you need to get yourself some new clothes, too."

"Right," Sean nodded before walking through the store.

Shinpachi spotted a chair, and decided to sit in it. He sat down, and waited patiently for Christine and Sean as they were searching for new clothes.

Christine squinted her eyes at the rack of short-skirted kimonos, and thought, _I've always wanted to try a short-skirted one. But, I'm fairly certain that Sean will want me to wear spandex underneath, so I'll get that as well._

Sean scratched the top of his head, and wondered, _How exactly do you put these types of clothes on?_

Christine peered at a green kimono, and out of curiosity, she pulled it out, and "examined" it. It was definitely a short-skirted one, but it had elbow-length sleeves, and a dark-crimson sash.

The girl smiled at it, and hollered at Shinpachi, "Shinpachi-san! I want this!"

She waved the kimono in the air as she ran towards the boy, and Shinpachi frowned, "Christiko-san, please don't yell. We're in a store."

She didn't yell again, but as soon as she stepped in front of the boy, she held the kimono in front of herself, and repeated, "I want this. It looks really pretty."

The girl earned a smile, and Shinpachi briefly nodded, "Then we'll get you this."

Christine cheered in excitement. She couldn't wait to try it on; she had always wanted to put on a kimono. Though, one question was roaming her mind.

_How exactly are you supposed to put on a kimono?_

Christine chewed on her lip as she arched a brow up, wondering how to actually wear the kimono. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when Sean announced, "I found an outfit I wanted to wear."

Shinpachi stood from the chair, and walked towards the man. Christine followed, of course.

Shinpachi asked as soon as he and Christine were in front of him, "What do you want to get?"

Sean hesitated at first, but he showed them the outfit. It was a black top and brown pants. While Shinpachi and Christine were glancing at the two-piece outfit, Sean cleared his throat, and said in a hoarse tone, "I-If you want me to get something else, that's f-fine."

Shinpachi curiously raised a brow, and questioned, "Why're you hesitating, Shojaro-san?"

Once again, Sean cleared his somewhat clogged-up throat as a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek. He answered, lowering his voice, "I wasn't so sure if you'd let me get this."

The teenager boy rolled his eyes, but heartedly smiled, "Of course you can get it."

Sean exhaled with relief, and Shinpachi added, "Now that you two have decided what you wanted to get, you can buy them."

Christine gave him a childish smile, and cheered, "Yay! I'm so excited to wear this!" She charged towards the counter, and slammed the outfit on it as she exclaimed at the employee, "I'd like to buy this, please!"

The employee rolled her eyes at Christine's action, but she scanned the tag, and told her the cost of the kimono. Christine pulled out the money from her pocket, and handed it to the female employee. But when something clicked her mind, she widened her eyes, and added as she hoisted a hand up, "Hold on! I need to get something else, first!"

The worker frowned as Christine ran through the store, looking for a pair of spandex.

Sean also frowned, but told her, "Christiko, you're only going to hold the line up!"

"Not if I hurry!" The girl retorted as she snatched a pack of spandex from a shelf.

She returned to the counter, and slapped the small pack on it as she chirped, "I'll get this as well!"

The employee snarled, "Do you have to slap _everything_ on the counter?!"

Christine glared at the worker, and snarled, "Do you have to cause an attitude towards me, when you're an _employee_?"

She parted her lips, and noticed that Christine was right. Employees' weren't supposed to cause attitudes in front of customers. The employee was lucky her boss wasn't behind her; otherwise she would get fired, or at least have a warning. If the female employee was fired, she'd then have trouble paying the bills, and she would most likely get kicked out of her house. She'd be forced to live in the streets, and be like the female version of Madao.

The worker sighed, and also scanned the pack of spandex. Christine gave her some more money, and the employee took it away from her hand before putting the kimono and the spandex in a paper bag. She handed Christine the bag before muttering, "Have a nice day."

Christine grabbed the handle of the bag, and was about to skip towards the exit, but Sean informed her, "Christiko, I think you should also get some stockings."

The girl rotated her head to the side, and questioned, "Why?"

"Well, we can't have your legs bare when you wear your kimono, and we certainly can't let you wear your pants. It'll look weird."

Shinpachi agreed, "Shojaro-san's right. We should get you some socks or something."

Christine pulled out her money again, but this time, she counted how much she had left. She furrowed a brow, and asked Shinpachi, "Do you think this is enough for socks?"

Shinpachi counted the money in his head, and then frowned, "I'm afraid not."

Christine narrowed her emerald eyes in disappointment. She mumbled, "Guess my legs will have to be bare, then."

Sean sighed, "I'm going to buy my outfit."

He started towards the counter, and Shinpachi stared at the girl with furrowed brows.

Shinpachi then heaved a sigh, and suggested, "I'll get you some socks."

Almost immediately, Christine's eyes widened, and she swiftly turned her head to glance at him. She looked dumbfounded, and before Christine could ask if he really meant it, Shinpachi smiled, "I'm serious, Christiko-san."

Christine smiled all goofy, and suddenly hugged Shinpachi. Shinpachi yelped, feeling very startled, but he smiled once again as Christine muffled in his outfit, "Thank you, Shinpachi-san!"

Shinpachi laughed, "You're welcome. Now, could you please get off of me?"

"Oh, right." Christine let go of the teenager, and she skipped towards the exit. She stepped out of the clothing store, but she leaned her back on the wall, waiting for Shinpachi and Sean.

Sean bought his outfit, but not before also getting a pair of socks and sandals. Apparently, his outfit was cheaper than Christine's kimono.

Shinpachi grabbed a pack of calf-length socks, and then decided to get a pair of sandals.

He eventually bought it, and asked Sean, "Are you ready to go?"

Sean nodded, "Yeah."

With that, they both walked out of the store, and saw Christine kicking a few pebbles.

Shinpachi informed her, "It's time to go, Christiko-san."

The corners of her lips curved up, and she charged towards the men. As soon as she was beside them, they all headed back to the Yorozuya.

**15 minutes later…**

Shinpachi opened up the door, and exclaimed, "We're back!"

Gintoki was in his chair, reading the latest issue of JUMP. He had his feet on his desk, and paid no mind to the trio.

Shinpachi frowned, "Are you ignoring us, Gin-san?"

Gintoki peered at Shinpachi, Christine, and Sean, and questioned while arching a silver brow up, "Eh? You're back already? Shinpachi, I thought you agreed to get me the new Ana Ketsuno figure!"

Sean furrowed a brow in confusion, and whispered in Christine's ear, "Who's Ana Ketsuno?"

Christine noticed Sean's puzzled expression, so she answered, "She's one of the news ladies. Gintoki has a _huge_ crush on her."

"Ah," Sean replied.

Shinpachi glared at the samurai, and said with crossed arms, "When did I ever say _that_?"

"This morning, when you were sleep-walking," Gintoki responded as he put his pinkie inside his nostril.

A vein throbbed into Shinpachi's forehead, and he snarled, "I don't sleep-walk!"

Gintoki set his JUMP on his desk, and pulled out something from the drawer. Everyone lifted a brow up, wondering what he was getting out.

Gintoki showed them what looked to be a video tape. As they all frowned in bewilderment, Gintoki started towards the T.V., and put the tape into the VCR. He then pushed the "play" button, and in a matter of seconds, the video tape started playing.

Shinpachi, Christine, and Sean all sat on the couch while Gintoki stood beside the television. He told them, "Watch this carefully." The T.V. screen showed Gintoki standing in the middle of the living room, holding a poster of Shinpachi sleeping. Actually, it was only a _drawing_ of Shinpachi. Apparently, Gintoki drew it. And the drawing on the poster looked terrible.

Anyway, in the T.V., Gintoki was behind the cardboard poster, and he looked like he was trying to hide himself. He jumped off of the couch, and hit his back on the couch. Gintoki placed a hand behind his head, and he pretended to sleep by snoring loudly. The fake snore was so loud; Christine held an annoyed expression. Sean just rolled his eyes, while Shinpachi's jaw dropped.

The poster leaned on the coffee table, and Gintoki tried mimicking Shinpachi's voice, "Gin-san, I'll get you the new Ana Ketsuno figure by the time it comes out."

Gintoki jerked his head up, and exclaimed in fake surprise, "You're really going to get it for me, Shinpachi?!"

He mimicked Shinpachi again, "Yes, Gin-san, because you're an amazing boss."

The silver-haired man made a childish smile, and hugged the cardboard tightly.

Gintoki turned off the T.V., and took the tape out as he said to Shinpachi, "There. Now go get me my Ketsuno figure."

Shinpachi's brows twitched non-stop, and he growled under his breath, "You _really_ thought I said that?! When did you even tape that?!"

"Last week," Gintoki dully answered, blinking his dead-fished eyes.

Two more veins throbbed, and Shinpachi kicked Gintoki in the hip. Gintoki grunted in pain, and the second he hit the floor, Shinpachi started beating the crap out of him…just by using his foot.

Shinpachi commanded the siblings, "Help me kick Gin-san!"

"With pleasure," Christine replied as she stepped beside the teenager.

Sean gave him a cracked smile, and thought, _Is this really okay?_

Christine kicked Gintoki's stomach, and Sean informed them as he was heading to the bathroom, "Uh…I'm going to change into my new outfit."

None of the teenagers paid any mind to him. Sean entered the bathroom, and he locked the door, that way nobody would invade his privacy.

Moments later, Shinpachi and Christine got a bit exhausted from kicking Gintoki, so they stopped, and panted a bit heavily.

Gintoki jerked himself up, and snarled, "You brats!"

Christine muttered as she crossed her arms, "You deserved that."

Sean opened up the bathroom door, and stepped out, showing everyone his new outfit. He carried his yellow shirt and black jeans as he asked, "What do you think?" He was getting a little self-conscious, since this was his first time wearing traditional Japanese clothes.

Shinpachi snapped his eyes wide, and smiled, almost immediately forgetting about kicking Gintoki, "It looks good on you."

Sean shifted a shoulder up, and murmured, "Thanks."

Shinpachi peered at the brown-haired girl, and told her, "You can go change, Christiko-san."

She nodded quickly, and ran into the bathroom.

As she was changing her clothes, Sean asked, "Shinpachi-san, is there a place where I can put my old clothes?"

"You can put them in the closet," Shinpachi suggested.

"Doesn't Kagura-chan sleep there?" Sean questioned as he quirked a brow up.

"Yes, but you can put your clothes on the _top_ shelf."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

Sean headed to the closet, and when he opened it, he put his modern clothes on the top shelf. But something clicked his mind, and he asked, "Speaking of Kagura-chan, where did she go?"

Shinpachi blinked, "I'm guessing she went to her morning exercise."

"Morning exercise?" Sean repeated.

Shinpachi nodded, "Kagura-chan sometimes goes to her morning exercises to see her friend."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"What's his or her name?" Sean didn't expect himself to ask that question, but his tongue slipped. Apparently, curiosity got the best of him.

Shinpachi responded, "His name is Hisashi Hongou."

"Hm," Sean hummed.

Just then, Christine cracked the bathroom door open, and volunteered Shinpachi, "Shinpachi-san, I need some help."

"Eh? What do you need help with?" Shinpachi questioned.

Christine answered, "I want you to help me tie my sash. That's the only part I'm having trouble with."

"Ah, I see." He was about to go to the bathroom, and help Christine tie the sash, but he was getting a little suspicious.

Shinpachi stood in front of the bathroom, and asked, "Your…cleavage isn't showing, is it?"

"Of course not!" Christine yowled. "Why would I have my cleavage show, you pervert?!"

"Oi, I'm not a pervert! I asked, because I didn't want to see…you know…" Shinpachi's cheeks shaded into a pinkish blush as he averted his gaze from the door.

Christine rolled her emerald eyes, and ordered, "Just help me…please."

Shinpachi would've refused if she hadn't said "please".

A sigh escaped the boys' lips, and he entered the restroom, where he saw Christine having a difficult time tying the sash.

His cheeks were still flushing, but at least he didn't see any cleavage. Otherwise Christine would've screamed, 'Pervert', and kick him out of the bathroom.

When Shinpachi was behind the girl, he arched a brow, and thought, _Are these the type of sashes where you tie a bow on the back?_

He noticed that there was no string on the sash. He furrowed a brow in slight puzzlement, but he shrugged his shoulders, and tied the bow on the back of Christine's new jade-colored kimono.

The moment he finished, he said with a small smile, "There you go, Christiko-san."

"Thanks, Shinpachi-san," Christine smirked as she looked at herself in the mirror. She twirled around, and saw her back, where she spotted the red bow. She muttered, giving her reflection a smirk, "I look sexy in it."

Shinpachi rolled his eyes, but left the bathroom as he told her, "You should put your other clothes in the closet."

"Okay," She replied. "Let me put on my spandex first."

She grabbed the pair of peach-colored spandex, and slipped them on.

As soon as that was dealt with, Christine marched out of the bathroom, and picked up her "regular" clothes. She started towards the closet, and the second she was in front of it, she opened it up, and tossed her clothes on the top shelf.

Christine shut the closet door, and patted her hands together as if there was dust on them.

The front door opened, and a cheerful voice shouted, "I'm home!"

Kagura dashed into the living room, and jumped on the couch, lying down. She kicked her legs up in the air, and bragged, "I got to see Hisashi's parents today, uh-huh! They let me join them for lunch, and it was awesome! I got to eat rice, raw egg, sukonbu, pork chop…"

While Kagura was going on and on about what foods she ate, Shinpachi noticed a mark beside Christine's right corner lip. He asked as he pointed at the mark, "Christiko-san, is that a scar?"

Christine touched her right corner lip with the tips of her fingers, and felt the scar Shinpachi was referring to. She gave out an amusing chuckle, "As a matter of fact, it is."

Furrowing a brow, Shinpachi questioned, sounding a bit peculiar, "How did you get that?"

She explained, "When I was eight, I was fighting with a boy, and while we were 'battling' each other, he picked up a piece of broken glass, and he cut me pretty badly. Because of that, I have this scar. It's a little hard to see it, but if you look close enough, you'll be able to notice it."

She pointed at her barely visible scar, and added, "My scar is so sexy~!"

Gintoki finally got up (Wait, has he seriously been on the floor for that long? He must've been in excruciating pain, that's for sure), and rubbed his hand on his hip as he grunted, "You brats didn't have to break my bones!"

Christine stated, "We didn't break your bones, wavy-haired-guy. We just kicked you, because you thought Shinpachi said he'd get you that Ketsuno figure."

The silver-haired man cursed under his breath, and he said, "I'm going to the hospital, to see if my bones are broken." As he was heading over to the door, he wrapped his hand around Sean's upper arm, and told him, "Let's go, Shojaro."

"Eh?! Why do I have to come?!" Sean exclaimed, gawking at the samurai.

Gintoki responded, "Because I don't want to go alone. I need company."

Sean tried pulling himself away from the man, but Gintoki's grip was too tight. So instead of trying to walk away, Sean said, furrowing his brows, "B-But I have nosocomephobia!"

"Huh? What the hell is that?"

Christine answered for Sean, "He's terrified of hospitals."

Gintoki arched a brow, and pointed out, "Everyone's afraid of hospitals. And if you're saying that just to get away from me, you've failed miserably. Now come with me, before I break _your _bones."

Sean yelled angrily, "I'm not lying! I really am afraid of hospitals! I'm terrified of them to the point where if I come close to a hospital, I'll have a panic attack!"

The older man rolled his ruby-red eyes, and forcefully pulled Sean as he commanded, "You're coming with me, and that's final."

Sean swiftly turned his head around, and called out, "Christiko! Help me! _Do something_!"

Rather than "saving" her brother, Christine bade him goodbye, and waved, "Have fun keeping Gintoki company."

His mouth dropped to the ground, and before he could scold her for saying that, Gintoki dragged him out of the house, and slammed the door closed. Even when they exited out of Gintoki's house, Sean yelled, and was also practically crying, because he now had to go with the samurai to the hospital. Poor Sean. Now he's going to have a panic attack.

Shinpachi blinked his dark eyes multiple times as a drop of sweat trailed down his cheek. He glanced at Christine, and inquired, "Um, Christiko-san…does your brother really have nosocomephobia?"

Christine nodded, "Yep. He's had that phobia for a long time."

Shinpachi crackly smiled, and although he didn't want to ask, he did, anyway, "Do you remember _how _he got it?"

The girl tapped her forefinger on the edge of her chin, and remembered as she snapped her fingers, "Oh, yeah! When he was 13, and I was ten, he had a _horrible_ flu, so he was forced to go to the hospital. He left the hospital a few days later, but he accidentally looked through the window of an operating room, and he saw what seemed to be an operation. After that, he looked horrified, and told me, 'I'm terrified of hospitals now'."

Christine scratched her cheek, trying to remember what else had happened six years ago.

Another thought entered her mind, and she added, "Shojaro also told me that the reason why he despises hospitals is because of the equipment they have. Though, he's terrified of needles the most."

A frown tugged on Shinpachi's lips, and he muttered, "I feel bad for your brother now." He then realized something, and chose to question the light-brown haired girl, "Are you afraid of hospitals, too?"

Christine shook her head, holding back a laugh, "No, I'm not afraid of them. I'm actually afraid of bees and spiders."

"Is that so?" Shinpachi wasn't too surprised by that, since most people were afraid of bees and spiders. After all, bees and spiders were the creepiest creatures ever, in Shinpachi's opinion.

Christine stated, "Wait, correction, I have severe arachnophobia and apiphobia."

That's when Shinpachi raised his brows in slight surprise. Before he was able to reply, Christine sighed, "I've had those phobias since I was six."

"What happened to you back then?"

"Well, I got a spider bite on my hip, and I also got stung by bees twice. I didn't even realize I had apiphobia and arachnophobia back then until months later, when I became _deathly_ afraid of both bees and spiders."

"How did you know the names of the phobias?"

Christine shrugged as she scratched her cheek once more, "My parents sent me to the doctors, and they told me that."

"I see. So…if you see a spider or a bee, you'll freak out?"

"Yep." Christine now scratched her wrist.

Shinpachi gave her a sympathetic look, and replied, "I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay," She waved it off as a soft chuckle escaped her lips.

Shinpachi noticed that Christine kept scratching herself. Was she itchy or something? He didn't see any bug bites on her. Or maybe…the bug bites were so small; they were impossible to see.

The teenage boy stared at her, and asked, "Why do you keep scratching yourself, by the way?"

Christine almost immediately stopped scratching, and answered, "It's a bad habit."

"Oh," He murmured. Shinpachi glanced over at Kagura, and realized that she was _still _going on about what she did with Hisashi and his parents. Apparently, they did a _lot _of things together.

Kagura hopped off the couch, and exclaimed, "I would _love_ to introduce you two to Hisashi, uh-huh! I'm thinking I should do that on my next morning exercise, which is next week. Man, I can't _wait_ for Hisashi to meet you weirdos!"

Shinpachi glared at her as Christine thought, trying to remember who Hisashi was, _Hisashi…Hisashi…I remember the name, but I don't remember who he is. Wasn't he in only one episode of Gintama?_

Kagura peered at the kimono Christine was wearing, and pointed her index finger at it as she questioned, "Weirdo girl, how come your chest is flat?"

"Huh?" She lifted a brow up.

"Your chest wasn't that flat when you were wearing those weird-looking clothes, uh-huh. I think your boob's exploded while you were putting on that kimono, uh-huh."

"Hey!" Christine snarled. "Boobs can't explode! And for your information, my clothes are _not_ weird!"

"Uh-huh, sure," Kagura sneered as she grinned stupidly. "I should give you another nickname. I'll also call you…flat-chest. Yeah, flat-chest; that's perfect, uh-huh. But I should have you know that I will mostly call you 'weirdo girl'."

The girl glared at her, and growled, "I would rather have you stick with 'weirdo girl'! Flat-chest sounds too insulting!"

The female Yato shrugged, "You shouldn't be insulted, uh-huh. Your chest is as flat as a blank piece of paper."

"Alright, that does it!" Christine snapped before lunging towards the younger girl.

Shinpachi gasped almost inaudibly, and wrapped his arms around her. He shouted, "Christiko-san, you shouldn't try to attack her! She's a Yato; Yato's are much stronger than humans!"

Kagura snickered, "Glasses is right, weirdo girl. You shouldn't try to pick up a fight with a beautiful Yato like me. Otherwise your arms will get broken, and you'll never be able to write notes or letters again! Muahahahahaha!"

What did notes and letters have to do with anything? Maybe Kagura just said that, because she wanted to be a bit weird.

Christine rolled her eyes as Shinpachi exclaimed, "My name is not glasses!" He slowly let go of the girl, and when Christine didn't do anything, he sighed with relief.

Christine sat on the couch, and crossed her arms as she pouted, "I hate you."

_Well, I don't really hate you, Kagura, but…I hate you for being stronger than me!_

**At Edo Hospital…**

"Gintoki-san, for the 11th time, I don't want to go to the hospital with you!" Sean cried as he was hitting Gintoki's wrist. Gintoki hadn't let go of Sean's arm since they left his place. The reason why he never released him was because he was fairly certain that Sean would run away, and try to hide. Gintoki wouldn't allow that, obviously, and he held his arm as tightly as he could. He couldn't care less if it was hurting Sean; Gintoki wanted company, dammit!

Gintoki replied without looking at the man, "Tough shit. You're coming with me, whether you want to or not."

Sean was about to give up, but he realized that he and Gintoki were right in front of the hospital. His emerald eyes snapped wide, and he let out a gasp as he started panicking, _N-No! I-I-I'm in front of a hospital now!_

Ever since he was 13, he had been horrified of hospitals, due to the fact that all hospitals had needles, surgery equipment (Like those weird knives for cutting skin. Yeah, that's gross), and death beds. Not that death beds actually exited (Or did they?), but if the patient were to die on a hospital bed, _then_ it would be called a "death bed". Which meant that yes, Sean would shudder at the thought of that.

Throughout his teenage years, he had been trying to stay away from hospitals as far as possible. Sean would even try to not get himself hurt, because if he had an injury, he would have to be sent to the hospitals, no doubt.

Sean's heart started pounding against his ribcage, and although he froze, Gintoki dragged him once more, and ordered, "Oi, don't stare off into space."

Sean gasped loudly, and dug the back of his feet in the dirt as he exclaimed, "C-Can't I at least wait outside?!"

"Why are you such a freaking baby?!" Gintoki hollered, causing a few people to stare at them awkwardly.

Sean ignored the stares, however, and knitted his brows as he responded, "I told you, I have nosocomephobia!"

"You know what?! I don't give a crap if you have noso-coma-phobia! You're _not_ going to get away from me!"

He finally released Sean's arm, but before Sean could run away from the silver-haired samurai, Gintoki wrapped an arm around Sean's torso, and he picked him up, where he set him on his shoulder.

Sean moved his arms and legs around, and yelled, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the heck do you think you're doing?!"

Gintoki immediately replied, "What does it look like? I'm carrying you; that way, you won't be able to escape."

"B-But you're going to have to put me down at some point! Besides, aren't I a bit too heavy for you?! Doesn't your hip still hurt?!"

"I'm strong enough to carry you, so you're not heavy. In fact, you're as light as an infant."

"Uh…I'm not even sure if I should take that as a compliment, or an insult…"

Sean stopped moving around, and noticed that more people were peering at them. Sean felt so uncomfortable, that his face began to burn in embarrassment.

He thought as he and Gintoki entered the hospital, _Darn it, Gintoki. Now I KNOW I'm going to get a panic attack soon._

As Gintoki headed towards the front counter, a nurse slowly lifted her head up, and saw them.

She furrowed a brow, and the first question she asked was, "Um, excuse me sir, but why are you carrying a man on your shoulder?"

"He was trying to get away from me," Gintoki answered dully as he picked his nose, acting like nothing was happening.

The nurse gave him a baffled expression, but decided to ask another question, "Do you have an appointment?"

Gintoki admitted, "No, but I'd like to make an appointment right _now_. You see, two brats kicked the living crap out of me, and I'm pretty sure they damaged my hip. And since I'm fairly certain that I have a few broken bones, I'd like to see a doctor at this very minute." Though his tone was bland, Gintoki was being very serious. He wanted to make sure he had no broken bones in his body; if he did, then he'd beat up Christine and Shinpachi. Well, maybe not beat them up, but he'd definitely give them a punishment. And that punishment would be not eating any food for a whole day. Now _that's_ a cruel punishment.

The nurse hesitantly picked up a clipboard, and she flipped over a few pages to see which doctors were available at the moment. Most of them weren't, because they were either doing a surgery operation, or they stayed home, because they were sick.

Gintoki put Sean down, but even when Sean's feet touched the ground, his body shook. He was inside a hospital, for the first time in six godforsaken years. He _really_ hoped he wouldn't step into a hospital ever again, but unfortunately, he was having bad luck, if that made any sense.

The nurse blinked her dark eyes, and informed Gintoki, "The only doctor that's available at the moment is Kaoruki-sensei."

Gintoki was relieved that there was at least one doctor available, but he slammed his hands on the counter, and commanded as he startled the innocent nurse, "Well, what're you waiting for?! I want to see him at this very moment!"

She frowned, but heaved a sigh before picking up the phone, and dialing the number to Kaoruki-sensei's office.

Kaoruki-sensei picked up his phone after two rings, and the nurse told him, "Hello, Kaoruki-sensei. There's somebody who wants to see you right now."

Gintoki tapped his foot on the floor impatiently as he crossed his arms, thinking, _I better not have any broken bones! If I have at least one broken bone, my life will be ruined, and I'll never marry Ana Ketsuno!_

Yeah, yeah, we _get it_, Gintoki. You've been having your Ana Ketsuno fanboy moments since you first laid eyes on her. Wait, was that love at first sight? No, that can't be it. There's no such thing as "love at first sight". Sure, there's "lust at first sight", but "love at first sight"…no.

Anyway, the nurse hung up the phone, and said with a small smile, "You may see him now. He's on the third floor."

"Thanks," Gintoki replied dully as he wrapped his arm around Sean's body again.

Sean growled, "Will you quit picking me up?!"

Gintoki rolled his dead-fished eyes, "I've only picked you up twice. Quit complaining."

"Wha- how am I complaining?! I hate being picked up!" Sean tried to not get angry, but he had a quick temper, so…it couldn't be helped.

He shouted, "Put me down right this second! I want to get out of here!" Sean moved his arms and legs around again, but this time, he couldn't stop. He didn't want to stop, because his fear of hospitals was taking over him. Sweat covered his face, and his heart beat faster than ever.

When Sean didn't stop, Gintoki clenched his teeth his anger, and yelled, "**Stop moving, goddammit!**"

Without warning, he punched the younger man in the stomach. Sean grunted in pain, and stopped moving. He groaned while glaring at him, "You bastard…"

Gintoki ignored him, and headed to the elevator.

He entered the elevator while still carrying Sean. As Sean mumbled under his breath, a sharp pain hit Gintoki in the hip. Now it was Gintoki's turn to grunt. He placed a hand on his hip, and cursed, "Shit…"

They eventually reached the third floor, and when the elevator doors opened, Gintoki stomped out, and thought, _Now…where's that Kaoruki doctor?_

Without wasting any time, he ran through the hall, trying to look for Kaoruki-sensei.

He searched for the doctor for a few moments before seeing a sign above a bronze-colored door. It said, 'Kaoruki-sensei'.

Gintoki exclaimed, "Finally!" Without thinking, he pounded his fist on the door, and yelled, "Open up!"

The ache in his hip was starting to get worse. Gintoki let out a hiss, and although Sean was still in pain from the punch in his stomach, he whimpered, "Maybe you should put me down!"

"No!" Gintoki hollered, making Sean flinch.

Just then, he door opened, and there stood Kaoruki-sensei. He was bald, and had dead-fished eyes, like Gintoki.

Kaoruki-sensei questioned, "Are you the person the nurse told me about?"

"Yes!" Gintoki replied. "My hip is in pain, and I want to know if I have any broken bones or not!"

Kaoruki-sensei frowned, but sighed, "Alright. Have a seat."

Gintoki walked in, and put Sean down, but when Sean saw a jar of needles, he immediately widened his eyes, and shuddered as he stared at them in horror.

Kaoruki-sensei shifted a brow up, and asked, "Is that man alright?"

Gintoki waved his hand up and down, and assured, "He's fine."

The bald man was obviously concerned, but he shrugged his shoulders, and asked, "Anyway, did something bad happen to your hip?"

Gintoki explained as he sat in a chair, "Not too long ago, two brats kicked my freaking hip."

Kaoruki-sensei furrowed a brow, but sighed quietly, "I'll do an examination." The doctor reached his hands out, and placed them on Gintoki's hip. Gintoki stared at his hands as Kaoruki-sensei pressed his fingers. Gintoki winced, but remained quiet.

The doctor finished, and he said, "Your hip's fine. You don't have any broken bones."

"How do you know, though?" Gintoki asked suspiciously.

Kaoruki-sensei frowned, "Sir, I'm a doctor. I can tell."

Gintoki sighed with relief, and stood up as he muttered, "That's a relief."

He turned around, and when Sean saw that he was leaving, he exclaimed, "Does this mean we're leaving?!"

"Yes," Gintoki responded.

Sean weakly smiled, feeling glad that they were finally leaving this dreadful hospital. Well, Sean thought it was dreadful, anyway.

They left the building in a matter of minutes, and Sean whispered to himself, "Thank god…I'm finally out of that horrible place!"

Gintoki glared at him, "Shut up. You're getting annoying."

The only response he got was, "Gintoki-san…next time you go to the hospital…DON'T BRING ME THERE!"

Gintoki rolled his eyes, and murmured, "Whatever."

* * *

**Now you know a few things about Christine and Sean. :D Sean suffers from nosocomephobia, while Christine suffers from arachnophobia and apiphobia. Apparently, their family suffers from phobias. LOL**

**By the way, have you guys heard the song "The Fox" by Ylvis? It's viral, but it's so fucking catchy...I'm addicted to that song. o.o**

**_My answer from the previous__ question:_ In my opinion, I think FLCL and Black Butler are the most overrated anime's ever. I hated FLCL's hype; as for Black Butler, well, I don't hate it (Actually, I just hate the second season), but while I was watching it, I couldn't find the reason why so many people like it. I have a feeling that it's because of Sebastian Michaelis' bishiness. Honestly, I don't find Sebastian that hot. :P  
**

_**Question of the**_** _update:_**** If you got sucked into the Gintama world, what would your reaction be, and what's the first thing you would do?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 5! :)**


	6. Make sure your tongue doesn't slip

**Enjoy!**

**Hobozrule: Yeah, it's better to stay away from Okita. XD You can go to my profile, and see what pairings I like/dislike.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Make sure your tongue doesn't slip; otherwise you'll get broken bones**

After a few moments, Gintoki and Sean finally returned.

Christine, Shinpachi, and Kagura all glanced at the duo, and Christine snickered, "How was your visit to the hospital, bro?"

She had expected him to yell at her, and say something like, 'It was hell', but Sean was too happy to even say anything. And the reason why he looked so happy – and not to mention the fact that there was some water in his eyes – was because he was glad to get away from that place.

Shinpachi had a concerned look on his face, while Kagura and Christine's expressions were blank. Sean went into the kitchen, and opened up the refrigerator, where he took out a bottle of water. He murmured to himself as he unscrewed the cap, "I desperately need some water."

Without sparing another second, he quickly gulped the water down his throat. And although he didn't realize it, he had already drunk half of the water bottle.

Sean pulled the tip of the bottle away from his lips, and he let out a gasp. He put the cap back on the bottle, and put it in the fridge.

After closing the fridge door, he returned to the living room, and when he was in front of the couch, he sat down, next to Christine.

Christine thought he was staring off into space, because his eyes looked blanked. The girl arched a brow up, and thought, _Why does he look unconscious, all of a sudden? Did he have a panic attack, when he was forced to go to the hospital with Gintoki?_

She shrugged her shoulders, and suddenly, there was a knock on the front door.

Everyone looked at the door, but Shinpachi muttered, "I'll get it."

He headed towards the door, and the moment he stood in front of it, he grabbed the handle, and pulled the sliding door open. There, he saw his older sister, Tae Shimura.

Shinpachi slightly widened his eyes, and greeted his sister, "Hello, sis. What brings you here?"

Tae responded as she closed her eyes, "I kind of want to give you, Gin-san, and Kagura-chan a 'request'."

"A request? You never give us requests," Shinpachi shifted a brow up.

Tae admitted, "You're right, I never give you requests, but this is important." She took off her sandals, and entered the living room, where she saw Sean and Christine. Tae raised her brows in slight surprise, and she decided to ask, "Shin-chan, who're those two?"

Shinpachi glanced at the siblings, then back to Tae. He explained, "These two are Christiko and Shojaro. They got kicked out of their hometown, so they're staying here for now."

"I see." She turned to Sean and Christine, and said, "Nice to meet you, Christiko-san and Shojaro-san."

Sean blinked his emerald eyes, and realized, _She must be the violent woman Christine was talking about._

Christine was the first to greet the older Shimura, "Nice to meet you, Shimura-san."

"You can call me Tae or Otae if you'd like," Tae suggested.

Christine nodded, "Okay, Otae-san." Tae was never Christine's favorite character, but she was going to try to not anger her during her – and Sean's – stay in Edo. The last thing she wanted was a beating from Tae.

Sean also greeted her, but sounded a bit hesitant, "N-Nice to meet you, Tae-san." He was obviously nervous, because Christine informed him that she was one of the most – if not _the_ most – violent characters in Gintama. She also told him to not anger her; otherwise he'd be in danger, when Tae was around. But, Sean felt that even when Tae wasn't angry, he'd think he was in jeopardy. Wait a second, Sean wasn't scared of Tae already…was he? Man, he really is a baby, apparently.

Tae ignored Sean's hesitation, and repeated, "Anyway, as I've stated, I have a request."

Gintoki arched a silver brow, and questioned, "Eh? You have a request for us? Well, this is surprising." Though he said that, he sounded uninterested. He added as he picked up his JUMP magazine, "If you want us to get you some lingerie, you can get it yourself."

A vein throbbed in Tae's cheek as she smiled, while closing her brown eyes. She walked towards the silver-haired samurai, and as Christine and Sean watched her, Sean thought, _Uh-oh. It looks like Gintoki's in trouble._

Sean wished he was wrong; unfortunately, Gintoki really was in danger. Sean wanted to warn him that Tae was about to punch him in the face (That's what Sean predicted, anyway), but Christine placed a hand on his arm, and whispered in his ear, "Don't worry. He gets beaten up all the time."

Sean frowned, and whispered back, making sure nobody heard him, "I don't think you're helping, Christine."

Christine just shrugged as Tae stood beside the idiotic samurai. At first, Gintoki didn't notice her, but when Tae pulled the JUMP out of his hands, Gintoki gasped, "Oi! Don't just take my JUMP away from my hands!"

Instead of replying to him, Tae rolled the JUMP, as if it was a newspaper. She still smiled at him, but she raised the JUMP up, and in a split second, she hit the magazine on the side of Gintoki's head. And since Tae hit him _hard_, Gintoki slipped into unconsciousness. He fell off of his spinning chair, and he lied on the floor as drool trailed from the corner of his lip.

Sean furrowed his brows, wondering if Gintoki would wake up anytime soon. Tae put the JUMP on Gintoki's desk, and said as she patted her hands together, "I'm not going to ask you to get me some lingerie. That's too perverted."

Tae walked to one of the couches, and sat down as she smiled, "Okay, I shall tell you my request."

Sean still glanced at Gintoki, and he asked, but stuttered at the same time, "B-B-But what about G-Gintoki?"

"What about him?" Tae questioned with a raised brow.

Sean was definitely going to make sure to not say anything that would anger the woman. So in order to not piss Tae off, he was going to say nice things. Yeah…that shouldn't be too hard, right? He was a gentleman, after all. Well, except when he gets bossy towards his sister, but still.

Sean cleared his throat, "H-He's unconscious."

"Don't worry," Tae assured. "He'll wake up soon."

Sean frowned, but decided to not say anything else.

Tae also cleared her throat, but she began explaining her request, "My friends and I are going to be in a parade tomorrow, and I'd like you all to help me."

Christine widened her eyes, and repeated, sounding excited, "Parade?"

Tae nodded, "It's the 'Anti-perverts Parade'. It was Oryou's idea. Anyway, I'd like you to help me on a few things. First, I'd like you to make a few signs that say, 'If any perverts try to harass you, kick their asses'. Second, I want you all to join the parade tomorrow, and while we're walking through the streets, I want you to shout out, 'Kick the perverts' asses! Kick the perverts' asses!'."

Sean furrowed a brow, and said to the brown-haired woman politely, "Um, excuse me."

"Yes?"

"I'm…not exactly comfortable shouting, so…" He trailed off, trying really hard to not infuriate her. A gulp went down his throat, and he managed to finish his sentence by stammering, "…c-can I at least s-speak in my normal t-tone?"

A drop of sweat trailed down his cheek as his heart thumped. He prayed in his head, _Please don't be angry, please don't be angry…_

Luckily, though, Tae didn't appear to be angry. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, and replied, "You can, though I'd appreciate it if you spoke loudly enough for people to hear you."

Sean sighed with relief, but Christine informed Tae as she lifted her index finger up, "But other people in the parade are also going to shout, so citizens in Edo won't be able to tell if my brother really is shouting or not."

"You're wrong, actually," Tae pointed out. "People will be able to tell if others are yelling or not while they're in a crowd."

The corners of Christine's lips tugged down, forming a frown. She was baffled by Tae's comment, but she decided to not reply.

Tae continued, "As I've said, the parade will be tomorrow, so I want you all to start helping me."

"Right this minute?" Kagura asked, blinking her cerulean eyes multiple times.

The older girl nodded, "I want to get the signs done as soon as possible."

Both Kagura and Christine smiled, and they hopped off the chair as they exclaimed at the same time, "Then we'll start on the signs now!"

Almost immediately, the girls dashed towards the front door, and the second they put on their shoes, they quickly opened the door, but Kagura pushed Christine aside, and exclaimed, "Out of the way, flat-chest! I'm going to make better signs than you, uh-huh!"

"Oh no, you don't!" Christine snarled. "_I'm_ going to create better signs than you! And don't call me flat-chest!"

Kagura snickered, and skipped out of the doorway. Christine was about to leave as well, but she turned her head, and told her older brother, "Oh, Shojaro. You still owe me that steak."

Sean glared at her, but Christine left, and closed the door behind her.

Tae smiled, and said as she stood up from the couch, "Well, I'm glad they're excited to start working on the signs."

Just then, Gintoki groaned, and murmured as he rubbed the side of his head, "What're we supposed to do?"

Tae responded, "We're going to make signs for a parade."

"Parade, huh?" Gintoki shifted a silver brow up. "Is it about your stolen underwear?"

Sean face-palmed himself as he thought, _Are you trying to get yourself killed, Gintoki?_

Tae gripped his wavy hair, and pulled him up as she growled, smiling once again, "No, my underwear has not been stolen. Stop talking about my lingerie." She stomped towards the door, and opened it. Without warning, she violently threw Gintoki out.

Gintoki screamed his lungs out as his body hit a pile of garbage. He eventually stopped screaming, but when he saw that he was lying on a few garbage bags, he scrunched up his face, and exclaimed in disgust, "Augh! Why does this always happen to me?!"

Sean questioned in his mind, _Does he always land on a pile of garbage? If so, that's disgusting._

Tae faced Sean and Shinpachi, and ordered, "Let's get moving."

Both of the men nodded, and they got up, heading for the door. They then put on their shoes, and Sean asked Gintoki as he was getting up, "Are you an idiot?"

"Huh?" Gintoki glared at the emerald-eyed man.

Sean crossed his arms, "Why did you decide to ask Tae-san about her underwear? That's too inappropriate, if you ask me."

Gintoki rolled his small eyes, but walked away, and muttered to himself, "I need a parfait."

Of course, he decided to not be part of this. So only Shinpachi, Sean, Christine, and Kagura were going to work. Shinpachi's vein throbbed, and he smiled angrily as he mumbled, "He can't get a parfait when we're supposed to be working!"

Before Shinpachi could charge towards Gintoki, Tae rested a hand on his shoulder. Shinpachi glanced at his older sister, and she told him, "You can beat him up when we're done working, Shin-chan."

Shinpachi frowned, but nodded as Sean questioned, "Is Gintoki-san really trying to walk away from the job?"

"Perhaps," Tae answered. "But he was unconscious when I told you about my request, so it doesn't really matter. He's useless, anyway."

Sean furrowed a brow, and thought with realization, _He must be a terrible boss, then._

The man heaved a sigh, and they all walked the opposite direction.

**Meanwhile…**

"You brats! Give them back!" A middle-aged woman shouted.

Kagura and Christine managed to steal some markers, papers, and paint from a day care center. Christine didn't have enough money to get drawing utensils from a store (But even if she did, she would rather spend it on steak), plus they didn't have anything at Gintoki's house, so they decided to rob a day care. Yeah, real smart, you two.

Christine didn't want to steal at first, since she knew it was wrong, but they obviously couldn't make posters without paper and markers, so they pretty much had no choice. Oh, and they also stole a few pieces of cardboard. Again, _real smart_.

Anyway, the middle-aged woman, who was apparently the owner of the day care center, started chasing after them, and when Kagura noticed her, she widened her sapphire-colored eyes, and yelled, "Run faster, weirdo girl!"

Both girls ran as fast as they could. Christine was just hoping the old woman wouldn't call the Shinsengumi; she and Sean nearly got arrested when they were walking around the streets, wearing their modern clothes. If she and Kagura went to jail, all because they stole a few things from little kids, then they would yell in rage. Kagura wouldn't be able to defeat Sougo Okita, and Christine wouldn't be able to explore all of Edo. She wanted to at least meet the majority of the Gintama cast before she went to jail. Wait, she never wanted to go to jail. She was an innocent teenage girl, for crying out loud! Sure, she may have been an immature brat, but she wasn't stupid enough to put herself in prison.

The old woman seemed out of breath, because she panted heavily, and stopped running after Christine and Kagura. She knelt on the ground, and while she was trying to catch her breath, the younger girls stormed away, and managed to lose her in a matter of seconds. They were relieved, but they didn't stop sprinting through the streets. A few people glanced at them, wondering why they were in such a hurry, but Kagura ignored them, and said with a laugh, "I can't wait to get started on these posters, uh-huh!"

Christine gazed her eyes on the citizens that were peering at them. She growled, giving them a harsh glare, "**Stop staring** **at us!**" A couple of people flinched at her tone, but they averted their gazes away from them. Christine scoffed, and muttered under her breath, "Weirdos."

Kagura pointed at a small group of individuals, and exclaimed, "Look, weirdo girl! It's boss lady, Shinpachi, and your grumpy brother!"

Christine blinked her jade eyes, and saw Tae, Sean, and Shinpachi. She smirked, and as they were getting closer to the trio, they slowed down.

Soon, they halted, and panted as beads of sweat trailed down their foreheads. Sean stared at them suspiciously, and asked, "Were you running?"

Christine admitted, "Yes. We wanted to start working on these posters, so we ran."

"Where did you get the items?" Sean questioned in a serious tone. Christine didn't like it when his tone got serious, because she knew he was getting suspicious.

Sean added as he peered at the items Christine and Kagura were holding, "You couldn't have bought them, because you wouldn't have had enough money to buy all this!"

Christine wanted to say, 'It's none of your business', but Kagura blurted out, "We stole all this from a day care center, uh-huh!"

"KAGURA-CHAN!" Christine snarled.

Sean rubbed the bridge of his nose, and replied, infuriated, "Are you serious?!"

Tae rolled her eyes, and said to the man, "Shojaro-san, they may have stolen all this, but this stuff is important. Do you want to be in a parade with no signs?"

Sean thought as he gawked at the older Shimura, _Why're the signs so important?!_

He was afraid of asking that out loud, because, as mentioned before, he refused to infuriate the woman.

When Sean didn't answer, Tae smiled, "Exactly. Now let's get to work. We can make the posters at my place."

"Yay!" Kagura cheered.

As they were all walking towards Tae's house, Christine decided to ask, "Otae-san, should we make the signs look girly, or plain?"

"I'd prefer girly. Plain signs look really boring," Tae responded.

Christine happily said, "Yippie, we're going to make girly signs!"

Tae chuckled, but Sean and Shinpachi frowned. Sean pointed out, "Pardon me for interrupting, but we're going to join the parade too. Do we really have to hold up girly-looking signs?"

Tae turned to glance at him, but an anger mark appeared on her cheek. Sean quietly yelped, and scolded himself, _Oh, no! I think I've angered her!_

The woman asked with a hint of anger in her tone, "Are you saying plain signs are better?"

Sean wanted to hit himself for asking that question, but he gave her a cracked smile, and stammered, "I-I didn't say th-that! I was j-just saying that…Shinpachi-san a-and I are guys, so w-wouldn't it be weird for us to hold signs like that?"

Tae tilted her head to the side, and as her evil smile was still plastered on her face, she commanded, "It might be weird for you, but you two are going to hold signs with beautiful designs on them, whether you like it or not. Is that clear?"

"Y-Yes!" Sean panicked as he felt his heart pound against his chest.

Tae replied, now sounding innocent, "Good."

Sean silently sighed with relief, but Shinpachi whispered in his ear, "Watch what you say next time. You don't want to get beaten up by my sister, do you?"

"Y-You're right," He agreed, also whispering. "I _don't_ want to get beaten up."

**Ten minutes later…**

They entered the Shimura household, and as they were taking off their shoes, Kagura exclaimed, "Let's get started!"

"Yeah!" Christine agreed as she and Kagura dashed through the hallway.

Sean hollered, "Christiko, don't run in other peoples' houses!"

"It's okay," Tae assured as she waved her hand up and down. "They're excited to start on the posters."

Sean rolled his eyes, and grumbled under his breath, "Dammit, Christine."

Everyone entered the living room, and Kagura dropped her stuff on the table as she yelled, "What kind of decorations should our posters have?! I want to draw Shinpachi, uh-huh!"

Shinpachi widened in eyes in astonishment, and he asked, "Kagura-chan…you're going to draw me?"

Kagura nodded, "Yep."

A smile crept up on Shinpachi's face as Kagura began to draw him.

Tae turned to Christine, and suggested, "You should draw something, too, Christiko-san."

"Hm?" Christine hummed. "Like what?"

"Well, you can draw anything," She shrugged.

A sudden thought came to the teenage girl's mind, and she smirked as she replied, "Even a penis?"

"Christiko, don't draw _that_!" Sean shouted, giving his younger sister an angry glare.

Tae giggled, ignoring the irritated man, "Like I said, you can draw anything."

"Hooray!" Christine stormed off again, but this time, she quickly sat down beside the table, and grabbed a random marker, which was a purple one. She then snatched the cap off, and before she was going to draw anything, she wrote on the big piece of paper, 'If any perverts try to harass you, kick their asses'. She snickered at first, but when she realized that she was writing in Japanese, she snapped her eyes wide in bewilderment. Christine actually thought she was writing in her native language – which is English, obviously – but she remembered that the anime god apparently gave her and Sean the ability to speak and write in Japanese. So until they returned home, they wouldn't be able to write or speak in English, no matter how hard they try.

Christine finished writing, and she stared at her writing as if it was the most interesting thing ever. Actually, Christine found it _very_ interesting. She just wrote Japanese for the first time. To her, it was pretty strange. But, she was going to get used to writing like this sooner or later. After all, she and Sean were in the world of Gintama.

Christine shook her head, and decided to start doodling on the paper. Kagura was doodling also, only she was drawing a picture of her fighting Sougo. She snickered at the thought of defeating him, and she thought as she squinted her eyes, _Someday, sadist…you're going to get your ass kicked!_

A dark aura rose above her head, and Shinpachi and Sean sweat dropped as they took a few steps back. Christine, however, continued drawing. It seemed that she wasn't bothered by Kagura's aura. Seriously, she was so calm; it looked like she didn't even _know_ there was an aura above the Yato's head.

Sean peered at Shinpachi from the corner of his eyes, and asked in a mutter, "How is Christiko not bothered by the look on Kagura-chan's face?"

Shinpachi muttered back, "I don't know."

Tae returned, carrying a tray with four cups of tea. Tae said, "I brought some tea, if anybody wants some. I only had four cups, so one of you won't be having any tea."

Christine and Kagura stopped drawing for a moment, and gazed at the brunette. Christine raised her hand up, and suggested, "I won't have tea."

"Eh?" Everyone glanced at the girl, surprised.

Christine shrugged, "I don't like tea, anyway. Sorry."

Tae chuckled softly, "It's fine." She set the tray on the table, next to the cardboard, paper, and markers. She picked each cup up, and gave it to Kagura (Even though she never drinks tea), Shinpachi, and Sean.

Sean thanked the woman, and decided to sit down, but he remembered that Japanese people usually sat with their legs under their bottoms. He frowned, thinking if he was required to sit like that.

A lump formed in his throat, but he finally sat on the floor. He had his legs on the side, and took a sip of his hot tea. Kagura gawked at the cup of tea, and asked Tae without gazing at her, "Boss lady, is this really tea?"

Tae answered, "Yes, it really is tea. Why do you ask?"

"It looks like someone pooped in it."

"Kagura-chan!" Sean howled. "That's insulting!"

Shinpachi muttered, "That's what I was going to say."

Tae quirked a brow up, and peered at the tea Kagura was holding. She gazed at her own cup; then looked at Kagura's again. Tae laughed, "You're right! It does look like someone took a dump in it!"

The girls, including Christine, were laughing, but Sean and Shinpachi held disgusted expressions. Sean's stomach churned a bit, and he thought, _Somehow, I don't feel like drinking my tea anymore._

With that, he headed for the kitchen, and as soon as he entered it, he dumped his tea into the sink. He didn't want to do it, really, but his stomach was still turning from the mental image that was stuck in his head. If only Kagura didn't say that disgusting comment. Then he wouldn't feel the need to throw up.

Kagura decided to taste the tea, and when she took a sip of it, she licked her lips, and widened her eyes in amazement. Did she actually like it, despite insulting Tae's tea?

She cheered, "It's delicious, boss lady!"

Tae smiled, "I'm glad you like it."

Kagura ordered Christine, "Weirdo girl! Try it!"

Christine frowned, "I already told you. I don't like tea."

"TRY IT!" Kagura shouted, giving the girl a death glare.

Christine's frown deepened, but just as Kagura was about to force her to drink some tea, Tae insisted, "Kagura-chan, please don't force Christiko-san."

Kagura pouted, and glared at the light-brown haired girl, "You suck, flat-chest."

Tae lifted her brow up once more, and stared at Christine's chest in silence. Nobody had said a word for a few seconds, and Tae finally broke the silence by saying, "You know, you're right! Christiko-san's chest is flat!"

As they were giggling in amusement, a vein popped into Christine's neck, and she slammed her hands on the table as she yelled without a second thought, "You're one to talk! Your chest is also fla-" When she realized what she was saying, she covered her mouth, and scolded herself for nearly calling Tae flat-chested. But even when her mouth was covered, Tae gave her a dangerous smile.

A black aura appeared, and Tae growled, "What were you about to say?"

Christine removed her hand from her mouth, and she wanted to give her a compliment, but her tongue decided to betray her, because she accidentally finished her sentence by insulting her, "Your chest is also flat!"

Now she wanted to beat herself up. But of course, Tae was going to do that for her. Tae stood up, and the second she stood in front of the teenager, she grabbed a handful of her hair, and pulled her up from the floor.

Sean gasped, and was about to "rescue" his sister, but Shinpachi placed a hand on his chest. Sean gawked at the boy; Shinpachi gave him a look that said, 'Don't do anything. I don't want you to get hurt, too'.

Sean gave Shinpachi the look that screamed, 'But my sister's in trouble! Are you just going to stand here, and let your sister punch Christiko?!'.

Shinpachi glared at the older man, giving him another look, 'I don't want sis to punch Christiko-san, but there's nothing we can do'.

Just as Sean was about to scream in fury, Tae violently threw Christine towards the closet door. Christine yelped loudly as her head hit the door, causing it to break in half. Kagura wasn't paying much attention, so her expression was the same as before. Sean and Shinpachi, on the other hand, had their jaws dropped, and they both stared at the now-unconscious girl as their brows twitched.

Christine shouldn't have insulted Tae like that. Damn her and her tongue! Seeing Tae being violent towards other Gintama characters was one thing, but her actually throwing Christine in a random place was _definitely_ another. Christine regretted insulting Tae (Though Tae does have a flat chest), and the next time she had an insult, she would make sure to keep it to herself.

As soon as the girl lied on the floor, looking lifeless, Sean ran towards her. It was obvious enough that he was worried about his little sister, and although Tae didn't actually kill her, Sean wanted Christine to wake up. _Now_. When Christine didn't regain her consciousness, Sean clenched his teeth in frustration, and grabbed her by the shoulders. Sean then lifted her up, and when he stared into Christine's blank eyes, he began to violently shake her. He yelled, "Christiko, you need to wake up!"

Shinpachi tried calming the angry man down, "Sh-Shojaro-san, Christiko-san is just unconscious!"

"I don't give a darn if she's unconscious! I don't want my sister to die!" Apparently, Sean didn't hear him correctly.

Shinpachi gave out a sigh, and assured him, "She'll wake up eventually, though shaking her isn't going to help."

Sean blinked multiple times before letting go of Christine. He let her fall back to the floor, and Sean apologized, as if he believed Christine would hear him, "Sorry, Christiko."

A few hours passed, and everyone was finally done making the signs. It took them this long to finish, because Kagura kept messing up by accidentally spilling paint everywhere. They cleaned up the paint, but it still took a long time for the signs to be completed.

Everyone except Christine (Since she was _still_ unconscious) held up their squared-shaped posters, and exclaimed, almost at the same time, "We're finally done!"

Tae lifted a finger up, and informed them, "Not yet. We still have to put the boards on the back of the signs."

Sean furrowed a brow, and pointed out, "But we don't have any boards."

"Actually, we do. They're in the closet; I better go get them." Tae walked towards the closet door, and when she was close enough, she tossed the broken doors to the side, and pulled out five wooden boards.

Sean thought in slight puzzlement, _How did I not see those before, when the closet doors broke?_

His lips parted, and at first, he wanted to ask Tae where those boards even came from, but he decided against it, and shrugged his shoulders.

All of a sudden, Sean heard a low groan. He blinked his green eyes, and turned his head to the side, only to see Christine finally waking up. Sean sighed with relief, and Christine rubbed the top of her head as she asked, "What…what happened to me?"

Shinpachi told her, "You insulted my sister."

"Oh," Christine mumbled, remembering her insult from earlier.

Kagura hollered as she hammered the board into the back of the cardboard, "Weirdo girl! We managed to finish up the signs, uh-huh!" She slammed her hammer (Don't ask where she got it) into the nail – that was in the board – added, "Get in there, stupid, rusty nail!"

Christine gazed at her brother, and asked, staring at his relieved expression, "Was I unconscious?"

Sean gawked at her as if she had said the stupidest question ever. Did she _not_ remember that she looked lifeless hours ago?! She was having a memory problem, apparently.

He sighed loudly, "Yes, you were unconscious. You need to watch your mouth next time."

While the others were busy putting the wooden boards on the cardboards, Christine squinted her eyes, and glared at him as she replied, "My tongue slipped!"

Sean rolled his eyes, "Sure…"

"I'm serious! I didn't _mean_ to insult Otae-san!"

"But you _did_ say my chest was flat," Tae said a matter-of-factly without gazing at either of them.

Christine scowled at the woman, but didn't say a word.

Tae changed the subject by announcing, "There. _Now_ we're finished."

She grabbed the end of the board, and lifted it up, staring at the colorful-looking poster. She giggled, "I can't wait to hold these tomorrow."

Kagura giggled along, "And I can't wait to hit the perverts in the heads if they try to harass me, uh-huh!"

Sean and Shinpachi frowned at her, and Shinpachi said quietly, "Kagura-chan, I don't think you should do that."

Tae agreed, "Shin-chan's right. You should hit the pervert in the leg; that way, they'll just fall down, and not be dead."

Sean asked, sounding baffled, "Are you saying that if Kagura-chan hit the pervert in the head, the pervert would die?"

Tae answered, "Yes."

"How would she kill him by smacking him in the head?!" Sean accidentally screeched. He was now more bamboozled than ever.

The older Shimura explained very briefly, "Kagura-chan is a Yato."

"Wait, a _Yato_?" It was obvious enough that Sean didn't know what a Yato was.

Christine landed a hand on his shoulder, and clarified, "Kagura-chan's basically an alien. Also, Yato's have incredible strength; that's why Otae-san said Kagura-chan would kill a creep if she smacked them on the head."

"EH?!" Sean peered at the red-headed Yato, and carefully looked at her, seeing if she was indeed an amanto. But Sean thought that she looked no different from a human. Sean added, pointing at Kagura, "Sh-She doesn't look like an alien! She looks just like a human being!"

"I may look human," Kagura admitted as she crossed her arms, "but I'm not. I wouldn't have my massive strength if I was a human, nope."

"Kagura-chan's right," Shinpachi agreed; then asked, sounding a little suspicious, "Did you not know what a Yato was?"

"Er…no," Sean gave him a sheepish smile.

Shinpachi got more suspicious, and he probed, "How did Christiko-san know what a Yato was, yet _you_ didn't know?"

That's when Sean yelped in surprise. He realized that Shinpachi was right. Christine knew what Yato's were, yet Sean couldn't understand what the hell a Yato was a moment ago. Hell, even the word itself sounded a bit odd to him. It was reasonable, though, because he never watched Gintama, let alone _any_ anime in general.

Sean began to panic. Since he never saw Gintama, of _course_ he wouldn't know what Yato's were. But even then, Christine knew, and Sean didn't.

When Shinpachi was waiting for an answer, Christine thought, _Uh-oh, I better say something, before Sean blurts out the truth about us being from the real world!_

Christine doubted that would happen, but Sean looked like he was about to have another panic attack. So she piped up, "We've never met any Yato's throughout our lives!"

"Eh?" Shinpachi blinked.

Christine scratched her cheek as she lied, "When I was little, I used to read books about the Yato clan. My brother, on the other hand, didn't. And we've never met, or even seen, any amanto. That's why Shojaro was confused at first."

Shinpachi blinked his dark eyes again, but this time, he gave Sean a surprising look. He said, "Oh, okay. That makes sense, then."

Sean was relieved Christine "saved" him, but he wanted to laugh, because Christine never liked reading books. Oh, the irony.

Tae noticed that it was getting late, so she suggested, "My, it's getting dark out. Kagura-chan, Christiko-san, Shojaro-san, you should probably be heading back to Gin-san's place." She didn't mention Shinpachi's name, because, well, Shinpachi lived here.

Sean looked outside the small window, and saw that Tae was right. Sean muttered, "What time is it?"

Although he was quiet, Shinpachi looked at the clock, and responded, "It's almost 9:30."

"9:30?!" Christine shrieked. "We better get back, then! Bye, Otae-san!"

Without sparing a second, Christine and Kagura stormed out of the room. Sean rolled his eyes, but said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Shinpachi-san and Tae-san." He was about to leave as well, but a thought occurred to him. He added, "What time are you starting the parade?"

"Noon," Tae immediately replied.

Sean nodded in silence, and then left.

As he was following Kagura and Christine out the door, he thought about the parade, _I hope it won't end up in utter chaos._

He chewed on his lower lip for a moment, but then heard Christine shout, "Oi, Shojaro! Why're you standing there?! We have to get going!"

Sean rolled his eyes in mild annoyance, but put his sandals on, and exited the Shimura house.

* * *

**I was going to add the parade in this at first, but I figured it should wait until the next chapter. LOL Besides, I've packed in enough stuff into this one.**

**I hope this isn't too much to ask, but can you give me some ideas for this story? It's going to be long, so you can give me ideas if you want. I may not accept _all_ ideas, though (Sorry). XP**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ If I got sucked into the Gintama world, at first, I'd think, "Am I dreaming?" and I'd pinch myself; the first thing I'd do would be to try on a kimono. Then again, I wouldn't have any money at that time. XD**

**_Question of the update:_ If you wanted any kind of weapon (Basically Japanese-related), what would it be?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 6! :)**


	7. Parades should be fun, not tiring

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Parades should be fun, not tiring**

"Oi, bro. Let's go get my steak!" Christine commanded her older brother.

They were on their way back to Gintoki's place, but Christine realized that she hadn't gotten her steak yet. And since Sean said they'd get it as soon as they got paid, Christine would make sure she would get her "reward".

Sean rolled his eyes, and asked as he rested a hand on his hip, "Can't we do that tomorrow? We need some rest for the parade." Although he said that, he wasn't exactly looking forward to the "Anti-Perverts Parade". He didn't want to hold up girly-looking signs, filled with glitter and flowers, but he also didn't want to get his ass kicked by Tae for not holding them up. So Sean, plus Shinpachi, had no choice but to lift the signs up tomorrow. Hopefully, people wouldn't laugh at him for carrying girly signs.

Christine grabbed his sleeve, and cried, "No, I want my steak _now_! You said we'd get it when we got paid!"

When Sean realized that she was right, he gave out a sigh, and decided, "Alright, we'll get some steak. But we're cooking it _tomorrow_, because as I said, we need some rest."

Now it was Christine's turn to roll her eyes. She replied, "Fine, fine."

Sean smirked, and then told Kagura, "Kagura-chan, you go ahead. My sister and I are going to get something from the store."

Kagura arched a brow in slight confusion, but she shrugged her shoulders, and skipped away from them. As she was singing a random song (Possibly about her pet, Sadaharu), Sean asked, "Do you have your money, Christine?" Since nobody was around them at the moment, Sean felt it was safe to call his sister by her real name, as long as they were quiet.

Christine nodded, "Yep. It's in my pocket." She pointed at her right pocket.

Sean gave her a small smile, "Good. Now, let's get this over with; that way, you'll stop complaining about not having steak."

"I wasn't complaining," Christine stated.

Sean rolled his emerald eyes again, "You were complaining about not having your precious meat."

"Steak is delicious, Sean!"

Sean laughed at that, but when he did so, Christine scowled, "It's not funny!"

He shook his head while trying to die down his laughter. He agreed that steak was delicious, though he wasn't as crazy for it as Christine was.

As soon as he stopped laughing, he said, "Let's just go."

With that, they went to the grocery store.

**The next morning…**

Gintoki grabbed the handle of his megaphone, and placed it over his mouth before speaking, "Oi, wake up, you brats."

Both Christine and Sean immediately widened their eyes, and they yelped before falling off of the couches. Their backs hit the hardwood floor, and they screamed in pain. Gintoki rolled his eyes, but Christine quickly got up, and took the megaphone away from the samurai's hands.

Gintoki furrowed a brow in puzzlement, but Christine violently threw the megaphone to the ground, causing it to break in pieces. Gintoki's mouth agape, and he yelled, "You little brat! That megaphone cost me a months' worth of parfaits!"

Christine blankly stared at the silver-haired man, and replied as if nothing had happened, "You just wasted your money, then."

Veins throbbed in Gintoki's cheek, and he was about to throw her out of the house, but Sean got up, and agreed, "Yeah, Gintoki-san. You could've spent that money on something important. Such as paying the rent." Christine told him last night that Gintoki always had trouble paying the rent.

Gintoki gave Sean a harsh glare, and he continued to shout, "That thing was important!"

"Oh, really?" Christine rhetorically asked as she crossed her arms. "How?"

"I wanted to use it to get a girlfriend!"

Christine rolled her green eyes, and grabbed the blanket and pillow as she said, "Anyway, what time is it?"

As if on cue, the front door opened up. Shinpachi entered the household, and greeted, "Good morning, everyone."

Christine locked her gaze on Shinpachi, and pointed at him as she exclaimed, "Shinpachi-san! What time is it?!"

Shinpachi already knew why she wanted to know what time it was. Christine didn't want them to be late to the parade (Since Tae said that the parade would start at noon); that was understandable, because if they were late, Tae probably would've kicked their asses. But, Shinpachi didn't know if that would actually happen.

Anyway, Shinpachi peered at the clock, and finally responded, "It's 11:30."

"11:30?!" Christine hollered. She wrapped her hand around Sean's wrist, and ordered, "We got to get going, Shojaro! The parade will start in a half an hour!"

Without wasting any time, she dashed to the front door, and put on her sandals. Sean managed to put on his sandals as well, but without alarming him, Christine slid the door open, and stormed out. Since she was still gasping onto Sean's wrist, he was practically forced to run with her.

Sean yowled, "Christiko, at least slow down!"

"No!" Christine refused. "We need to get to Otae-san before noon!"

"Are you afraid of what Tae-san will do to us if we're late?" He snorted in amusement.

She laughed, "Ha! Afraid? Hell no! Besides, you looked _terrified_ of her when you introduced yourself to her."

"Well, you told me she was the most _violent_ character ever!"

"That doesn't mean you should be afraid of her 24/7!"

Sean was about to reply, but he and Christine spotted the brunette. It was none other than Tae Shimura.

As soon as they were a few feet in front of the woman, Christine greeted her, "Good morning, Otae-san!"

Tae noticed them, and greeted back, "Good morning, you two. I'm happy you arrived early." They were all standing in front of the bar Tae worked at, called "Snack Smile".

Christine peered at the sign above them, and saw the words in bold, magenta letters. She arched a brow up, and for no real reason, she decided to ask the taller girl, "Do you work here?"

Tae gave her a curious expression, but responded, "Yes. How did you know that?"

Christine shrugged, "Lucky guess." Christine obviously knew where Tae worked, though she had to admit that she'd forgotten what the _name_ of her job was.

She finally let go of Sean's wrist, but as soon as she released him, Sean almost immediately smacked the back of her head. Christine gave out a yelp (Though it sounded more like a squeak than a yelp), and held her head as she scowled, "What the fuck, bro?!"

Sean rebuked, "You didn't have to hold onto my wrist _that _tightly!"

Tae asked, "Were you two running?"

Sean answered, glaring at his sister, "Yes, but Christiko ran while holding onto my wrist. My wrist hurts now!"

Christine rolled her eyes, "You should've run as well."

Once again, he smacked her head, but it was a little harder this time. Christine hissed as she nearly lost her balance, "Will you stop smacking me in the head?!"

Before Sean could respond, he, Christine, and Tae heard somebody calling out their names. They turned around, and saw Shinpachi and Kagura running towards them. Well, Kagura was skipping like a little girl, but Shinpachi was definitely running. Seriously, he looked like he was trying to run away from a monster or something. But then again, Shinpachi never wanted to look like a chicken, so if there was a real monster chasing after him, he'd try to defeat it. Hold on, that wasn't the point here!

As soon as Shinpachi and Kagura stopped, they – no, wait, only Shinpachi – panted heavily. Sean blinked twice in confusion, and asked Shinpachi, "Are you okay, Shinpachi-san?"

Shinpachi managed to catch his breath in a matter of seconds. He cleared his dry throat, and answered, "I'm fine. I didn't expect you two to storm out of the house, though."

Sean pointed at Christine, and said blandly, "It was Christiko's fault."

Now it was Christine's turn to smack him in the head. She slapped the back of her hand onto the side of his head, and she yelled, "I didn't want us to be late! How many times am I going to have to tell you that?!"

Shinpachi frowned, but tried calming them down by saying, "Christiko-san, Shojaro-san, you two need to stop arguing. Be glad you're not late."

Sean sighed, "You're right, Shinpachi-san." He then gazed at Tae, and asked, changing the subject entirely, "By the way, where're the signs?"

Tae replied as she started walking towards "Snack Smile", "They're inside. I'll go get them." She went inside, while the others waited for her to get the posters.

A moment or two later, she returned, carrying the signs. But when Sean, Christine, Shinpachi, and Kagura saw them, they noticed that the signs were covered in _lots_ of glitter. Sean and Shinpachi frowned, and they coincidentally thought at the same time, _The amount of glitter…it's so unnatural._

Kagura and Christine's eyes sparkled, and they smiled at it as Kagura cheered, "It's so beautiful, boss lady!"

"Thank you, Kagura-chan," Tae replied, feeling flattered.

She handed each poster to the girls, and informed them, "The parade will start very soon, so I suggest you get prepared."

"Right!" Christine and Kagura exclaimed.

Tae also gave Sean and Shinpachi a sign, and she told them, "My friends are about to arrive, so be ready."

Right after she said that, she heard her name being called, "Otae-san!"

Tae turned around, and saw a couple of her friends. She gave them a smile, and greeted, "Hello, everyone. I'm glad you could make it."

One of her friends, who had short hair, shrugged, "We didn't want to be late." She noticed Christine and Sean, and then asked as she pointed at the duo, "Who are those two?"

Tae peered at the siblings from the corner of her eye, and she introduced them to her friend, "Oryou-san, this is Christiko-san and Shojaro-san."

Both siblings bowed, and said politely, "Nice to meet you."

The woman, named Oryou, quirked a brow up, and muttered, "Christiko…Shojaro…those names are weird."

Christine shrugged her shoulders as she stated, "We get that a lot."

Oryou rolled her eyes, but changed the subject, "Anyway, I managed to make my sign, so I'm all ready for the parade." She held her sign, which was light-green.

Tae frowned at the sign, because she thought it looked too boring. She pointed out, "Oryou-san, your sign looks dull. Couldn't you've at least put glitter on it?"

Oryou frowned as well, only she felt a bit offended by her comment. She heaved a sigh, however, and replied, "I didn't have much time. I wanted to finish my sign last night, but my parents visited my house, which apparently distracted me. So I forced myself to finish this this morning."

"I see. That's understandable," Tae nodded.

Oryou peered at the Wardenhall siblings, and chose to question, "Where did you two come from, by the way?"

Christine and Sean blinked their jade-colored eyes multiple times, and Christine questioned back, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason. I'm just curious."

Since Christine was usually the quick-thinker, she answered within a split second, "My brother and I were originally from a town, _far_ away from here."

Christine actually expected Oryou to tell her to be more specific, but the only response she received was, "I see."

Oryou eyed at Tae again, and said, being off-topic, "Oh, I just remembered. Another reason why I couldn't finish my sign last night was because I got a call."

"A call?" Tae repeated, sounding a bit surprised. "From who?"

Oryou didn't want to answer that, but she did, anyway, "Tatsuma Sakamoto."

Tae's expression changed from surprise, to mild disgust. She wasn't actually disgusted about the fact that Tatsuma Sakamoto called Oryou last night, but she was getting really tired of him telling Oryou to marry him. Of course, Tatsuma would never stop, despite having his balls kicked multiple times.

When Christine heard the name, she widened her eyes, and murmured, "Tatsuma Sakamoto?"

Oryou narrowed her eyes at the teenager, and replied a bit questionably, "Yes…do you know him or something?"

"Well, no," Christine confirmed. "But I've _heard_ of him."

"How so?"

Christine paused. She realized that her tongue had slipped…again. Did she _want_ herself and Sean to be discovered, and found out that they were from the real world?! If she didn't want people to find out about their secret, then why the fuck did her tongue slip?! Goddammit Christine, you must be the _worst_ at keeping your tongue from slipping!

The light-brown haired girl tried to think of an answer, but when nothing came to her mind, she was silent.

Oryou was growing suspicious, but a random woman from the group exclaimed, "Otae-san! We need to get moving!"

Tae exclaimed back, "Alright, then!" She rested her palm on Oryou's shoulder, and ordered, "Hold your sign up, Oryou-san."

Oryou sighed, and decided to drop the "how-Christine-heard-of-Tatsuma-Sakamoto" subject. Christine wasn't answering, anyway.

Christine exhaled with relief, and thought, _I thought the Kaientai were popular. Apparently, they're not._

As Tae, Oryou, Kagura, and Shinpachi were about to join the big group of women, Sean whispered in Christine's ear, "Who exactly is Tatsuma Sakamoto?"

Christine explained in a soft tone, "He's some guy, who's in love with Oryou."

Sean rolled his eyes, "I figured _that_ out. But who exactly _is_ he?"

She frowned, but added, "He's part of a crew called the Kaientai."

"The Kaien-_what_?" He gawked at her.

Christine face-palmed herself, and grumbled, "The _Kaientai_! Do I _really_ have to repeat myself?!"

Sean awkwardly smiled as his cheeks turned pink in embarrassment, "Sorry. Go on."

She heavily sighed, and continued, "Anyway, he's the leader of that crew. He lives in a ship."

Sean widened his eyes in amazement, and he asked, "Does that mean he lives in space?"

She nodded, "Yeah. If we ever meet him, I should warn you that he's _very_ optimistic, meaning that he laughs constantly."

The older Wardenhall furrowed a brow, and uttered, "Even when things aren't funny?"

He earned yet another nod. Sean almost inaudibly sighed, and whispered as he rubbed his temple, "I'm going to get annoyed when he's around me, aren't I?"

"Actually, Sean, he _can_ get serious at times. It just doesn't happen very often."

"Hm," He hummed.

For the truth, Christine wanted to meet Tatsuma someday. She had to admit that his laugh was pretty annoying, but he was a really funny character. If she met him, they'd probably do a lot of stupid stuff together, such as drinking (Even though Christine was only 16), trying to hit on ladies (But Christine would try to hit on guys, because she wanted a boyfriend sometime), and all kinds of bullshit.

They heard Kagura calling out to them, "Oi, grumpy! Weirdo girl! Move, or we'll leave without you!"

Both siblings rolled their eyes, but they ran towards the others. They eventually caught up to them, and held up their signs. Tae stood in front of the group, and announced, "Ladies and gentleman, throughout this parade, I will be leading. Now, follow me!" Of course, the only males that were actually in the group were Shinpachi and Sean.

Shinpachi muttered under his breath, "At least sis mentioned us."

"Yeah," Sean agreed. "Or else I'd think she was forgetting about us."

Soon, the group started marching through the street. They all began to yell, "Kick the perverts' asses! Kick the perverts' asses! Kick the perverts' asses!"

While everyone, including Kagura and Christine, cheered the same line over and over again, people outside the group glanced at them, and stared as if they were out of their freaking minds. But despite the stares they received, Tae paid no mind to them, and continued exclaiming, "Kick the perverts' asses!"

But just then, a random guy stepped in front of her, and lifted a hand up, halting her. Tae stopped, along with the rest of the crowd. She furrowed a brow as the man said, "I'm sorry, miss, but you're disturbing the neighborhood."

Tae frowned, and asked, "How are we disturbing the neighborhood? It's noon."

"That is true, but some people are trying to work." He pointed at a trio of men, who were fixing a rooftop.

The trio glared daggers at Tae, but she rolled her auburn eyes as she said, "I didn't mean to distract them, but we're doing this parade, because we want to make sure no perverts enter our bar."

"Huh?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Christine chimed in, "She's saying she doesn't want any perverted creeps flirting with her, or her friends!"

Tae nodded in agreement, "Right. So please move out of our way."

A vein throbbed in the man's neck, and he growled, "Did you not hear me?! I said you're _disturbing the neighborhood_!"

He was about to grab the collar on Tae's kimono, but Kagura and Christine slammed their signs on his head. He yelped loudly, and then fell on the ground, face-first.

Sean and Shinpachi didn't see what happened, but from what they heard, they groaned, and Sean mumbled inaudible words.

Christine placed her forefinger on her bottom lip, and asked, "Did we kill him?"

Tae put two fingers on the man's neck, and when she felt a pulse, she smiled, "No, Christiko-san. He's unconscious, but he's fine."

"Phew," Christine wiped her forehead as if sweat was there.

Tae commanded, "Keep going, ladies…and gentlemen."

Everyone nodded, and resumed their walking. They walked around the unconscious man, and when Shinpachi and Sean saw him, their mouths agape. Beads of sweat trailed down their faces as they stopped in their tracks.

The unconscious man's eyes went blank while drool came out of his mouth. Both Sean and Shinpachi contemplated on whether or not to help him, but their thoughts were interjected when Kagura cried, "We're going to leave you two, uh-huh!"

The boys gasped, and they stormed off, leaving the unconscious dude. Yep, they didn't bother to help him. They didn't even glance at him! Oh well, he'll wake up eventually. Wait, we won't even remember him…never mind, that's not important.

Anyway, the boys managed to catch up to the crowd, and more and more people gawked at them as they all repeated the same line. A few kids deeply frowned, and covered their ears, because they were getting very annoyed. They had faces that pretty much said, 'We get it! You all loathe perverts! Will you shut up already?!'.

They ran away, and complained to their parents about how obnoxious the group was. Sean somehow noticed this, and rolled his eyes as he thought, practically faulting on Tae and her friends, _Tae-san's friends were the ones who started this whole freaking parade. I think this parade was unnecessary._

Part of him wanted to leave the group of women – minus Shinpachi – but he had a feeling that Tae would catch him. If Tae caught him trying to dismiss himself from the crowd, then she'd smack him in the head with her sign…or something similar to that. So without any other choice, Sean stayed where he was.

Shinpachi caught the expression on Sean's somewhat angry face, and he furrowed his brows as he asked, "Shojaro-san, are you okay?"

Sean blinked, and turned his head to the side while answering, "I'm fine, Shinpachi-san." He leaned towards the younger man, and murmured in his ear, "I just don't want to be part of this."

Shinpachi sighed, "I don't want to be part of this either, but we don't want to anger sis, so we need to stick to the parade until this is all over."

Sean snorted absently, "How long will the parade be, anyway?"

Shinpachi narrowed his eyes, "I don't know."

All of a sudden, they heard a _very_ familiar voice.

"Oi, is the parade of feminists?"

They didn't have to guess who it was.

The two of them saw Gintoki, and Shinpachi was pleasantly surprised that Gintoki didn't ask a crude question for once. Maybe he decided to be a gentleman…? Hell no. He was _barely_ a gentleman at all!

Shinpachi gave the samurai a small smile, and responded, "Apparently so, Gin-san."

The top of Christine's right ear twitched, and she halted, yelling, "Is that perm-haired guy here, Shinpachi-san?!"

Shinpachi was baffled on why Christine yelled so suddenly. But he answered in a loud tone (Because he wanted to make sure she heard him), "Yes!"

A ghost of a smirk crept up Christine's features, and she dashed towards the silver-haired idiot. Tae and Kagura raised a brow, wondering what she was going to do, now that Gintoki was here.

But the second Christine stood beside him, she swung her sign, and hit Gintoki in the back. Gintoki yelled in pain, and snarled at the girl, "What was that for?!"

"That's for using the megaphone to wake me and my brother up…twice!" Ever since Gintoki first used the megaphone to wake Christine and Sean up, Christine wanted to "punish" him, because the megaphone, at least in her opinion, was irritating.

"Huh?!" Gintoki glared at her as he rubbed his back.

Shinpachi peered at her sign, and pointed out, "Uh, Christiko-san…your sign broke."

"Eh?" Christine also looked at her sign, but found out that it broke in half. She flickered her eyelids, but then shrugged, "I didn't need it anymore, anyway."

He sighed as Christine threw her broken sign in a nearby garbage can.

Gintoki continued scowling at Christine, and he grumbled, "Dammit, Christiko…now I can't stand up properly!"

Christine rolled her eyes, and walked back to the crowd of mostly women.

**An hour later…**

The parade finally ended. Tae told the group, "Everyone, you may go home now. I'm glad you all came."

Everyone smiled, and they headed for home. Tae faced Shinpachi, Sean, Kagura, and Christine, and asked, "Did you all have fun?"

Sean believed it was a rhetorical question, because if he said he didn't have fun, Tae would most likely call him a boring person.

They all answered, "Yep!"

Tae closed her brown eyes, and replied, "Good."

Suddenly, the five of them heard a man scream, "Otae-chaaaaan~! You did so well in that parade of yours~!"

Everybody glanced at the man who was screaming. Not surprisingly, it was the chief of the Shinsengumi, Isao Kondo.

Isao was in his usual Shinsengumi uniform, but he was carrying a digital camera. Tae gave him her evil smile, and asked a bit darkly, "Why do you have a camera?"

Isao apparently didn't see the dark look on Tae's face, because he happily cried, "I took a few pictures of you while you were and your friends were walking through town! And boy, am I glad I took them!" He looked at his camera, and saw various pictures of Tae's parade (And Tae herself).

Tae stepped beside the chief, and asked, "Gorilla-san, may I see your camera for a moment?"

Sean thought as the corner of his lip tugged down, _Did she just call him "gorilla"?_

Isao felt a bit bewildered at first, but he smiled goofily, and handed Tae his camera. When Tae grabbed hold of the device, however, she clenched her fist, causing it to break into a million pieces.

The man's jaw dropped, and he shouted, "Otae-chan, why did you just do that to my camera?!"

"Because not only were you stalking me again; you also took pictures of me when I didn't notice." She let go of the broken camera, and pieces of it fell to the ground.

Isao knelt down, and picked up the shattered device as he exclaimed in sorrow, "This stinks! I just got this three days ago!"

Kagura piped up, "You shouldn't have taken pictures of boss lady, then! You're a creep, uh-huh!"

Everybody walked away from the chief, but Sean questioned, "Who was that?"

Tae explained, "That was Isao Kondo. He's the chief of the Shinsengumi, but he's my stalker."

Sean frowned, "Wait, he stalks you, yet he's part of the Shinsengumi?"

"Yes."

"Well, this is pretty ironic," He uttered.

Christine nodded in agreement, but grabbed his wrist, and ordered, "Let's get back to Gintoki's, Shojaro. I want to cook my steak."

Sean rolled his eyes, but he and his sister turned around, and started walking back to Gintoki's house. Shinpachi and Kagura followed them as Tae headed back to her house, leaving the gorilla, who was still sobbing over his smashed camera.

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**I know Shinpachi was mad at Gintoki in the last chapter, but...Shinpachi eventually calmed down after that. LOL**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I'd probably want a small knife, or a dagger.**

**_Question of the update:_ If you could go on a date with any Gintama character for one day, who would it be?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 7! :)**


	8. If you're going to walk in the dark

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: Wow, I'm pretty flattered. No, scratch that, I'm _very_ flattered. I'm so happy you like this (And not to mention you like Christine and Sean). X3 I'm also glad I managed to keep some of the characters in-character so far. *giggles* Anyway, you're right, I am a bit better at seriousness, and don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to mock my sense of humor! I'm just...not a very funny person (I try to be funny, though). ^^; But again, I'm happy you like this story. Hope you like this chapter as well! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 8: If you're going to walk in the dark, don't go through alleyways!**

**A week later…**

Over a week had passed since Christine and Sean entered the world of Gintama. They were both getting used to the place, but they knew they were going to return home sometime. Of course, they weren't going to return home for a while. Sean and Christine were actually glad time stopped in their world; otherwise their parents would worry a lot, and wonder where the hell they went. But even then, Sean was a little homesick. He missed home, despite being away for only a week. Christine, on the other hand, didn't feel _that_ homesick…okay, maybe she felt a _little_ nostalgic, since she had never been away from home this long.

Throughout the week, the Yorozuya only got two jobs. The first one was rescuing a cat from a tree (It didn't sound like a job to them, but since they were getting paid, they did it, anyway), and the second was fixing a broken sink. They didn't get much money for the second job request, but hey, it was better than nothing, right?

The sun started to set, and inside the Yorozuya house, everybody was quiet. Not a single sound was heard. Gintoki read his JUMP, Shinpachi listened to Tsu Terakado's music in his headphones, Kagura was eating sukonbu, Sean read his book, and Christine took a short nap on the couch. She leaned her cheek in Kagura's shoulder, but the Yato pushed her off, making Christine look like she was sitting up. Kagura glared at her, as if warning her that if she were to do that again, she would rip her hair off.

Christine somehow managed to get used to her new nickname, "flat-chest". It didn't really bother her anymore, probably because Kagura wouldn't stop calling her that. She admitted that she had small breasts, but she refused to let anyone, let alone herself, think she had a flat chest.

As Kagura chewed on her snack, she broke the silence by telling Gintoki, "Gin-chan, I want you to buy me some rice tomorrow."

Gintoki raised a silver brow up, and asked blandly, "You can buy your own rice."

Kagura shook her head, "I don't have any money."

"Get a job, then."

The redheaded girl clenched her teeth, and slammed her fist into the coffee table. She accidentally broke the table, but she paid no mind to it, and yelled, "How the hell can I get a job?! I'm still a teenager, uh-huh!"

Gintoki rolled his eyes as he closed his JUMP magazine, "Teenagers can also get jobs, as long as they work hard. So that means you need to work hard; otherwise you'll never earn enough money to get breast implants."

Sean didn't want to pay attention to the duo, but Gintoki's comments were too idiotic and awkward to ignore. So he folded a corner of a page, and closed his book as he said, "Gintoki-san, I believe Kagura-chan's too young to get breast implants."

"Bah, girls are never too young to get implants. Hell, I once heard someone mention that their three-year-old daughter got boobs."

"That sounds too unrealistic," Sean stated.

"Your book is unrealistic."

"You've never even read my book! Heck, you don't even know what it's about!"

"It's about how to get girls, right?"

"NO!" Sean snarled. "It's _nothing_ like that! Why do you need a girlfriend so badly?!" Although Gintoki didn't say that, it was obvious enough that he wanted a girlfriend, because…well, he asked if Sean's book was about getting girls.

Gintoki rested his cheek in his palm, and responded dully, "I want to fulfill my dream of marrying Ana Ketsuno."

"Wha- what does that weather lady have to do with anything?!"

Christine snorted, and woke up as she rubbed her eye. She answered before Gintoki did, "Shojaro, Gintoki-san wants Ketsuno to be his girlfriend. That's why he brought her up."

Gintoki's cheeks flushed slightly, and he slammed his hands on his desk as he shouted, "I-I didn't say that!"

Christine gawked at the samurai, and stated, "You just said you wanted to fulfill your dream of marrying Ana Ketsuno! Are you trying to baffle me?!"

The man waved his hand, as if trying to drop of the subject, "Young lady, how about we stop talking about the love of my life?"

Sean hollered, "You're the one who started it!"

Gintoki paid no mind to the 19-year-old, and completely changed the subject as he placed his hands behind his head, "Shojaro, get me my strawberry milk. It's in the fridge."

Sean clenched his teeth with irritation, and quickly stood up as he exclaimed, "I'm going out for a walk!"

Christine blinked her green eyes, and asked, "Eh…are you pissed, bro?"

Without thinking, Sean snapped, "What do you think?!"

Christine flinched, but glared at her older brother, "Okay, okay, you don't need to be rude."

Sean angrily sighed, "Christiko, I have a quick temper."

"What the hell does _that_ have to do with anything?!"

He ignored her, and put his book halfway down his pants before stomping out of the Yorozuya house. When he slammed the door closed, a vein throbbed in Christine's cheek, and she screamed, "Shojaro! Don't ignore me! I _hate_ being ignored!"

She crossed her legs, and huffed while crossing her arms as well, "Dammit, Shojaro."

Shinpachi furrowed his brows, and pulled his headphones off as he asked Christine, sounding a bit concerned, "Do you think Shojaro-san will be okay? It's dark out."

For the truth, Christine was also worried about her brother. It was almost ten at night, so why _wouldn't_ she be concerned about him? Even when he was an adult, she was afraid that something bad would happen to him.

Despite feeling worried, Christine gave Shinpachi a straight look, and assured, "I'm sure he'll be fine, Shinpachi-san. He's a grown man; he can take care of himself."

"I know he's an adult," Shinpachi replied a matter-of-factly. "But what if somebody tries to attack him? I mean, he doesn't even have a weapon to defend himself!"

Christine paused, and realized that Shinpachi had a point. Sean and Christine didn't have any weapons to use for self-defense. The Yorozuya, on the other hand, did have weapons. Gintoki used a bokken, Kagura used a parasol, and Shinpachi – on occasion – used a sword. Now that Christine thought about it, perhaps she and Sean would have a get a weapon sometime. Obviously, they weren't going to use swords, because one: swords were illegal to use in Edo, unless you were part of the Shinsengumi; and two: they'd probably be too heavy for Christine and Sean to carry. Well, swords weren't that heavy, but they were still illegal for citizens to hold in public.

So swords were out of the question. If they couldn't use those as "armor", then what _could_ they use? Surely, they'd want to have something light; that way, they wouldn't have trouble carrying it.

Christine stood up from the couch, and suggested, "I'll go get him, then."

Shinpachi widened his dark eyes, and decided, "If you're going to do that, then let me go with you."

"Huh?!" Christine exclaimed. She gave him a small smile, and landed her hands on Shinpachi's shoulders as she added, "Shinpachi-san, I like you and all, but I can find him myself."

Shinpachi shook his head in disapproval, "Christiko-san, you're 16. You need at least a friend to be by your side, in case anybody tries to attack you."

Christine frowned, "You're 16, too! But wait…did you just call me…your _friend_?" Now she was a bit astonished, because Shinpachi referred to Christine as his friend. Did he really mean that? If so, that was the nicest thing he had said to Christine so far.

Shinpachi chuckled, "I did. Did you not notice that we're friends now?"

She smiled like a goofball, and placed her hands on her cheeks as she said in a high tune, "Nope. I feel silly now."

The teenage boy ceased his laughter, and he grabbed Christine's wrist as he told her, "Anyway, let's get your brother."

Christine nodded, and they both headed out the door, but not before putting on their sandals. Shinpachi said, "We'll be back!"

The teenagers ran down the staircase as Shinpachi released his grip on Christine's wrist. As soon as they were off of the stairs, they began looking for Sean.

**Meanwhile…**

Sean walked through the street, and growled under his breath, "I can't believe Gintoki-san…why is he so obsessed with strawberry milk?! Heck, why is he so obsessed with sweets in general?! I'm shocked he hasn't gotten a cavity yet!"

Yep, he was still angry at Gintoki for telling him to get his strawberry milk. Sean didn't want to be this angry, but with his short temper, it couldn't be helped. Sean was only hoping he would calm down sooner than later. He didn't actually want to walk through town this late at night, anyway.

He peered down at his book, and pulled it out as he gave it a tiny smile, "At least I have you, book. I feel like you and Shinpachi-san are the only people who understand me. I know you're not an actual person, but still. Anyway, my sister, on the other hand, annoys the crud out of me. I love her, but she needs to behave more. She's not a little girl, anymore!"

Whenever Sean was alone, he would sometimes talk to his book, and "complain" about his problems. It wasn't a habit, but he loved his book to the point where he would actually speak to it, as if it was a human being. Yeah, he was a weirdo whenever he was all by himself.

A sigh parted Sean's lips, and he added, "Christine wasn't this annoying when she was little. Isn't that weird, book? Perhaps she got annoying because…I don't even want to talk about it. It's kind of hard to speak now."

Sean put the book back into his pants, and halted as he narrowed his eyes. He raked his brown hair with his fingers, and decided, "Perhaps I should be heading back now. I'm a little crept out by the dark, anyway."

He was about to walk back to the Yorozuya house, but he peered through an alleyway, and saw what looked to be a ship. Sean arched a brow, and for some reason, the ship caught his interest. He couldn't see the ship very well, so he decided to go through the alleyway. Sean wanted to get back to Gintoki's place, but obviously, his curiosity got the better of him.

The man slowly walked through the dark alleyway, and he never averted his gaze from the big ship. As soon as he was at the end of the alleyway, he rested his hand on the wall, and had his eyes glued to the huge boat.

Sean didn't know whose ship it was, but it didn't matter. It wasn't like Sean was planning to sneak into the ship. He'd have to be fully retarded to do that. His lips parted, and he thought, _Wow. That is a huge ship. I wonder what it's like on the inside._

Of course, he wasn't going to let his curiosity get the better of him again. The last thing he wanted was to cause trouble. And he was kind of glad Christine wasn't with him; otherwise Christine would try to get into the ship, and disturb the owners' property.

Sean sighed quietly, and shrugged, "I need to head back to Gintoki's."

But the second he turned around, he noticed a woman holding up a gun. The gun was in front of his forehead, and he gasped, "What the…?!"

He gazed at the woman, who had blonde hair, and was wearing a somewhat revealing pink outfit. Sean frowned, and thought, _How is she not embarrassed by revealing this much skin?_

The woman asked darkly, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Sean's frown deepened, and he answered, but a bit hesitantly, "I-I was looking at th-this ship."

"Were you planning on sneaking in?"

"No! I was only looking!"

She gave him a skeptical look, and pushed her gun closer to him as she replied, "Sure you were."

Sean glared at the blonde woman harshly, and exclaimed, "I'm not lying! If that ship is yours, I didn't know! I'm sorry for staring at it!"

She chuckled, "I live in that ship, but it's not mine."

When she said that, Sean blinked, and thought, _I'm guessing a crew lives there. Then again, the ship is huge, so there's no way she'd live there by herself._

Sean touched her gun with his forefinger, and pushed it away from his forehead as he said with a cracked smile, "Look, ma'am, I can go, and we'll forget I even came here."

He took a step forward, but the woman stomped her foot onto Sean's. Sean snapped his eyes wide, and let out a cry of pain. He lifted his foot off the ground, and held onto it as he jumped up and down. He cried, "Wh-What the heck was that for?!"

The blonde scowled at the man, "You think you can walk away _that_ easily?"

"Huh?" He set his foot down, and he tried walking again, but the woman hit the handle of her gun on his head. She hit him so hard, that Sean slipped into unconsciousness.

The emerald-eyed man fell on the ground by his stomach, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

The woman sighed angrily, and mumbled, "Since you saw our ship, I'm going to have to take you hostage." She grabbed the back of Sean's black kimono top, and pulled him, now practically dragging him. She heard a thud on the ground, and she arched a brow before turning her head to the side. She saw the book Sean was carrying.

Her brow rose higher, and out of curiosity, she crouched down, picking up the book. She read the title of it, and she rolled her eyes as she said to herself, "What a stupid title." The woman dropped it, and as soon as it hit the somewhat rocky ground, she continued dragging Sean.

Oh, boy. Sean was in trouble now.

**Meanwhile, in the streets of Edo…**

Shinpachi and Christine were still searching for Sean. Christine began to grow frustrated when they didn't find him, and the longer they took, the more agitated Christine became.

The teenage girl mumbled words that were too low for Shinpachi to hear. But it wasn't like Christine was talking to him; she just felt too irritated to keep her words to herself.

Shinpachi heaved a sigh, and assured the angry girl, "Christiko-san, I'm sure we'll spot Shojaro-san soon."

Christine was listening to him, but she spotted two people in a dark alleyway. It wasn't so dark that Christine couldn't see, but without a word, she ran into the alleyway, and squinted her eyes, just to see who exactly the people were.

A frown ceased Shinpachi's brow, and he asked, "Is something the matter, Christiko-san?"

When Christine could make out who the two people were, she widened her eyes in shock, and informed the teenager beside her, "Sh-Shinpachi-san! That's my brother!" She pointed at the person sitting on the ground. She also noticed that the second person was dragging Sean.

Shinpachi questioned, "How do you know that's your brother?"

"Isn't it obvious? Look at his clothes!"

Shinpachi also squinted, but found out that the man really was Sean. He gasped, and replied, "It is Shojaro-san! But…is he unconscious?"

"From the looks of it, he might be! Wait a minute…" She squinted her green eyes again, and although she only saw the back of the person who was dragging Sean, she found out who it was, because the hair and clothes gave it away.

She cried, "It's Kijima Matako! She's kidnapping Shojaro!" Christine cupped her mouth with her hands, and she nearly screamed out, "SHOJA-"

She couldn't finish her sentence, because Shinpachi put a hand over her mouth. Christine gawked at his hand, and muffled in it as Shinpachi hissed, "Christiko-san, she's part of a dangerous crew called the Kiheitai! If she heard you, she'd come over here, and try to attack you and me!"

Christine pulled Shinpachi's hand away, and gasped for air, "I know she's part of the Kiheitai, but she has my _brother_! I can't just let her kill him! Wait, what if she's already done that?! Crap, I have to rescue Shojaro _right now_!"

"How're you going to rescue your brother when you're not armed?!"

"I don't need to be armed! I can cause a distraction, and then I can rescue my brother in a flash!"

Shinpachi sighed, "That's easier said than done, Christiko-san. How would you even distract them, anyway?"

"Easy. _You_ can distract them while I save Shojaro."

"Come again?" Shinpachi stared at her in disbelief.

Christine repeated herself as she crossed her arms, "You distract the Kiheitai while I save my brother."

Shinpachi weakly laughed, "Y-You're joking, right?"

Without warning, Christine punched Shinpachi in the cheek. Shinpachi shrieked, and Christine exclaimed with her hands on her hips, "Don't insist I'm joking! This is serious shit we're talking about! And besides, Gintoki and Kagura can't know about this, so you're the only one who's going to have to help me!"

The taller teenager frowned, "Why shouldn't we tell Gin-san or Kagura-chan? They're going to find out, whether or not we tell them."

"We'll just say he's been kidnapped, and by the time we save him, we'll tell Gintoki and Kagura that we didn't know who did it."

"You still haven't answered _why_ we shouldn't tell them."

Obviously, Christine couldn't just say, 'I'm from the real world; I know everything'. So she questioned, "Oh, right. Well, how much do you, Gintoki, and Kagura hate the Kiheitai?"

Shinpachi slowly answered, "We loathe them."

Christine quickly nodded, "What would happen if they saw them again?"

He held his chin, and thought about Christine's question. He knitted a brow, but questioned back, "Hold on, what do you mean 'again'? How did you know Gin-san, Kagura-chan, and I met the Kiheitai before?"

Shit, her tongue slipped again. She frowned at herself, but managed to lie hurriedly, "Somebody told me about it."

Shinpachi didn't look very convinced, but a sigh escaped his lips, and he replied, going back on-topic, "I think Gin-san and Kagura-chan would be so infuriated, they'd look like monsters hunting for their prey…alright, we won't tell them, but how exactly am I going to distract the Kiheitai?"

"That's the problem."

"You don't have a plan?"

Christine shook her head, admitting, "Not yet. But I'll try to come up with a plan as soon as possible. After all, I want to get Shojaro out of the Kiheitai ship before too long."

"Are you planning on getting him out of there tomorrow?"

"Hopefully."

Shinpachi narrowed his eyes, and saw something on the ground. He pointed at the item, and asked, "Is that Shojaro-san's book?"

Christine swiftly turned, and saw the book. Her mouth agape, and she picked it up as sweat formed on her cheek. Christine muttered, "His book…it's been left behind!" She faced Shinpachi again, and exclaimed, "He'll panic when he finds out his book is not with him!"

"Does he love that book that much?" Shinpachi asked.

"Pretty much." She put the book under her arm, and added, "We need to head back to Gintoki's house. As I said, I'll figure out a way to get Shojaro. But right now, I think we need some rest."

Shinpachi and Christine were now more concerned than ever. They didn't want to go into the Kiheitai ship, but they also didn't want Sean to be harmed. How were they going to rescue him? Christine needed to come up with a plan as soon as possible. No, scratch that, she wanted to come up with a plan by _tomorrow_. She refused to let Sean be in that ship for more than a day. Hell, she was positive that by the time Sean woke up, he would freak out, and try to escape. But of course, Sean had no weapon, so it was unlikely that he'd be able to free himself. If he even attempted to leave the ship, then the Kiheitai crew would most likely put him in their jail cell…if they even had any cells.

The worried teenagers returned, and they noticed that Gintoki wasn't in his chair. They also didn't see Kagura.

Shinpachi guessed, "I guess Gin-san and Kagura-chan went to bed."

Christine sighed with relief, "Phew, now we don't have to lie to them. You probably don't like lying to Gintoki and Kagura, anyway, right?"

He nodded, "Yeah. They're my friends; I don't like lying to them." Shinpachi faced the girl, and suggested, "Christiko-san, since we can't tell them that the Kiheitai kidnapped your brother, how about we leave the house before sunrise?"

She shifted a brow up, and questioned, "You're staying the night here?"

"Yes."

Christine shrugged her shoulders, and questioned, sort of changing the topic, "Do you want us to leave before sunrise, because you don't want Kagura and Gintoki to see that Shojaro isn't here?"

"Right. I don't want either of them to ask us why he isn't here."

"That's a good point, though they're going to wonder where we are."

The corners of Shinpachi's lips tugged down, forming a frown. "Seems that by the time we save Shojaro-san, we're going to have to lie to them, after all."

"I'm afraid so," Christine sighed.

**In the Kiheitai ship…**

"Dammit, why do you have to be so heavy to drag?" Matako cursed under her breath as she was entering the door to the ship.

Matako had dragged Sean all the way to the ship, and she was lucky that it wasn't far away from the alleyway she exited out of; otherwise she'd be complaining to herself about how heavy the unconscious man was. She would've just wrapped his arm around her shoulder, but Matako didn't like people getting too close to her.

As soon as she was inside the huge ship, she sighed, and murmured, "I better tell Shinsuke-sama about this."

As if on cue, Takasugi Shinsuke walked through the hall, and asked, "What is this, Matako?"

She gasped quietly, but quickly responded, "He was about to sneak into the ship, so I made him unconscious by hitting my gun on his head."

"And you brought him here?" He snickered in amusement.

"I wasn't going to let him go easily."

Shinsuke gazed at the man, who had drool trailing down the corner of his lip. He pulled his pipe from his lips, and blew out a puff of smoke as a smirk tugged on his features.

He ordered the blonde, "Tie him up. I'm going to give him a scare tomorrow."

Matako blinked in slight bafflement, but she nodded, and grabbed Sean's kimono shirt again. Once more, she dragged the blank-eyed man.

Yeah, Christine _really_ needed to make a plan soon. When Sean wakes up, he'll definitely panic, and wonder where the hell he is (And not to mention he'll also freak out when he finds out that his book's not with him).

* * *

**(Sorry if this got a little confusing. I had a bit of trouble writing some parts. ^^;) Oh dear. Sean's in deep shit now. Hopefully, Christine and Shinpachi will rescue him. :P**

**This is the start of the first arc in this story, the "Brother Search Arc" (If I start/end any arcs, I'll let you know)!**

**_My answer from the previous chapter:_ I'd go on a date with Tatsuma (I would've answered Shinsuke or Bansai, but they're both the main antagonists. I think I'd be killed if I went on a date with one of those guys. XD). He's a funny guy, and his laugh is so adorable! I know he loves Oryou, but she almost never appears in the series, so I don't care about her at all. Anyway, if I went on a date with him, I'd try to pull his glasses off, because then I'd see his gorgeous eyes (Hey, don't judge me. I love his eyes! He seriously needs to leave his glasses off more often!). *wink wink***

**_Question of the update:_ Where (As in internet) do you watch anime?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 8! :)**


	9. Figuring out a plan is easier said

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: Wow, your uncle looks exactly like Sakamoto? Well, that's something you don't hear/read everyday. XD That's so amusing. I like Shinpachi and Christine's relationship, too. :3 I don't mind long reviews. LOL**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Figuring out a plan is easier said than done**

**At Yorozuya's…**

Christine and Shinpachi slept on the couches, but while they were sleeping, they couldn't help but feel worried about Sean's safety. The teenagers found out that Sean had been kidnapped by Kijima Matako, and because she was part of the Kiheitai, both Shinpachi and Christine knew Sean would _not_ be safe, because the leader of the Kiheitai was obviously Takasugi Shinsuke. Christine was more terrified than Shinpachi was, because Christine knew Sean didn't know anything about the Kiheitai. She had a horrible feeling that Sean would anger Shinsuke, and he would also get at least a cut on his torso.

But of course, Christine wasn't psychic. Nobody was. Not even those old ladies who claimed they knew everything, from past, to present, and to future. All Christine had to do was wait until morning, before sunrise. She needed to figure out a way to save her older brother, even if she was going to be in danger as well. She was going to make sure not to kill herself, or Sean. She didn't want to die before they returned to their home-world. If either of them died, what would happen in their world? Would they be erased from their parents' and friends' memories?

No, Christine was positive she and Sean weren't going to die before they went home. Getting killed before going back to the real world sounded stupid. But Christine knew that rescuing her brother was easier said than done. She admitted to herself that it sounded dangerous to do such a risky "mission", but Sean needed to get the hell out of the Kiheitai ship. There was no way in a million _freaking_ years that Christine would let Shinsuke torture him for "disturbing" his property. Sean may have been bossy towards her for the past few years, but that didn't mean Christine wanted him to get hurt. No, that would've been too cruel; Christine was not a cruel person at all.

Suddenly, Christine began to dream about her past, when she was a little girl.

_(Christine's Dream/Flashback)_

_It was seven years ago. Christine was nine at the time, and Sean was 12. Back then, Sean used to be a happy-go-lucky kid, who would play a lot, like every other kid they knew. Although Sean wasn't as cheerful as Christine was when they were younger, he was still happy._

_The children were in their parents' bedroom, sitting on their bed. Their parents were at work at the moment, so they practically "invited" themselves to their room. They wouldn't tell their mom or dad about this, because they actually weren't allowed in there, unless their parents gave them permission to. And since they went into their bedroom without asking, neither Christine nor Sean was going to say a word about this. They didn't want to get in trouble, after all._

_Anyway, Sean read his book – which was titled "Mortal Caves" – as Christine lied on the bed. She rested her hands on the back of her head as she asked her older brother, "Sean, can you believe I've had this scar for almost a year?" Obviously, she was referring to the scar beside her right corner lip._

_Sean responded without averting his gaze from his book, "Yes, actually. I remember when you got cut very badly by that boy you were fighting with. You shouldn't have fought him."_

_She quickly sat up, and exclaimed, "He's the one who insulted my hair and face! It was impossible for me to ignore him!"_

_He laughed, still staring into his book, "You should've at least run away from him."_

_Christine rolled her eyes, "I'm not a chicken; I don't run away from things."_

"_You just wanted to be tough towards him, didn't you, Christine?"_

"_Yep," She admitted._

_Sean smirked, and put a bookmark in his book before closing it. He hopped off the bed, and replied, "I'm getting hungry. Do you want to make sandwiches with me, Christine?"_

_Christine hopped off as well, and answered in a cheerful tone, "Yes! I love peanut butter and jelly ones!"_

_Sean chuckled, and they both left their parents' bedroom._

_(End of Christine's Dream/Flashback)_

After her flashback, Christine opened her jade-colored eyes, and peered down, spotting the book on her stomach. She grabbed the top of the hardcover as she sat up, letting the blanket fall on the couch.

Christine had her eyes glued to the front cover of the book, and she bit her lower lip as she thought, _What am I going to do? I need to come up with a plan by tomorrow. How am I going to make Shinpachi-san distract the Kiheitai while I save Sean?_

Shinpachi's eyelid twitched, and he slowly lifted them up. He noticed that Christine was awake, and he raised his head up as he asked, "Are you okay, Christiko-san?"

She gazed at the boy, but didn't respond. When Shinpachi realized that she wasn't going to answer his question, he sighed, "It's about Shojaro-san, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Christine murmured.

Shinpachi decided to sit up, and he sighed, "Don't worry, Christiko-san…we'll rescue him."

"But…I have yet to figure out a way to save him." Then, something clicked her mind. She gasped, and widened her eyes as the corners of her lips tugged upwards, forming a grin.

Shinpachi blinked in confusion, but asked, "Have you thought of a plan already?"

Christine nodded, "I have."

"What is it?" He asked again, but sounded eager for Christine to answer.

Instead of answering, she placed her forefinger on her lips, and wickedly smirked, "I can't tell you right now.~"

Shinpachi frowned, "Why not?"

"I don't feel like telling you." She didn't have a real reason, obviously.

Shinpachi rolled his eyes, but looked at the clock, and saw the time. He parted his lips as if he was about to speak, though Christine also saw the time, and muttered, "It's almost 4:30…"

Shinpachi got off of the couch, and picked up the blanket and pillow as he suggested, "We need to get going soon."

"Is it almost sunrise?" Christine arched a brow up.

"The sun won't rise until about two hours, but I still want us to get ready for our 'mission'."

"Oh, so you want to be prepared?"

"You could say that," Shinpachi confirmed. "Though I want to get something to eat first. You should eat, too."

"Hm," The teenage girl hummed as she tapped her chin slowly.

Shinpachi also grabbed Christine's pillow and blanket, and he put them in the closet as the girl contemplated on his words. She wanted to get Sean as soon as possible, but when she heard her stomach growl, she realized that she was hungry. Shinpachi was right. They needed to eat first before going on their "mission". If they headed for the Kiheitai's ship without consuming any food, then they'd have the risk of fainting.

So Christine hurriedly got off of the couch as well, and straightened her short-skirted kimono. The bottom of her kimono was accidentally up to her groin, but she was lucky she was wearing spandex; otherwise Shinpachi would've seen her underwear, and flush, looking like an accidental pervert. Now that Christine thought about it, she was _glad_ she got herself a pair of spandex. These beauties saved her from being embarrassed. Ha! Go figure!

Shinpachi headed for the front door, and informed her, "We're going to the store."

"Eh?" Christine stared at the taller teenager with a raised brow. "I thought the store was still closed. After all, it's almost 4:30."

"The store is opened," Shinpachi corrected. "It opens at four a.m., so we can go there now, and get some nutrition bars."

"Nutrition bars?" She repeated his last two words. "I don't think those are enough for 'breakfast'."

"Actually, there's a new brand of nutrition bars called 'Power-up bars'. I know that sounds cheesy, but I've tried one, and it gave me more energy than ever!"

Christine looked interested, but she asked skeptically, "Are you lying to me?"

Shinpachi glared at the light-brown haired girl, "Christiko-san, I would _never_ want to lie to you!"

She widened her eyes, and waved her hand, "Sorry, sorry." Christine then remembered that she punched Shinpachi in the face. She didn't do it on purpose, though she felt pretty angry when Shinpachi asked if she was joking about him distracting the Kiheitai crew.

The girl faced Shinpachi, and gave him a cracked smile before saying, "By the way, sorry for punching you last night. I just got agitated."

He slightly smiled, "You're forgiven, though you should've apologized last night."

"It slipped my mind, apparently," She shrugged.

Christine ran towards the door, and slipped her shoes on as she asked, "Ready?"

When Shinpachi nodded, Christine smirked, and opened the door, where she sprinted out. Shinpachi widened his eyes, but ran out as well as he closed the door. The teenagers stormed down the stairs, and then ran through the street, now heading towards the grocery store.

**At the Kiheitai ship…**

A groan escaped Sean's lips, and he knitted his brows before slowly opening his eyes. At first, his vision was very blurry, possibly due to the fact that he was struck in the head with a gun. He didn't believe he was shot – because he didn't feel any pain in his body – but his brain was hurting. Sean thought he was getting a migraine.

He wanted to rub his head, but for some strange reason, he couldn't move his hands. Sean blinked multiple times, and thought in bewilderment, _Huh? Why can't I move my hands? Are they numb or something?_

Sean peered down, only to see rope wrapped around his chest and waist. His vision managed to clear up, but his mouth agape when he realized that he was tied up.

_WHAT THE HECK?!_

Sweat trickled down his skin as his brows twitched uncontrollably. A corner of his lip curved up as his other corner tugged down. He didn't know whether to scream for help, or laugh, thinking that this was all a dream. Not surprisingly, Sean chose the second option.

A hoarse laugh parted his lips, and he exclaimed to no one in particular, "H-Ha ha ha ha ha! I must be dreaming! Hey, sis! Pinch me, so that I'm not having this nightmare anymore!" After he said that, he waited for Christine to pinch him…

…but then he came to a realization that this wasn't a dream. It was real.

Sean scolded himself, "Dang it. I'm not dreaming."

He felt a throb on his temples, but he was able to ignore the pain. Sean chewed on his lip, and began to think, _Okay…let me try to remember what the heck happened to me. I was taking a walk, because Gintoki-san irritated me; I saw a ship when I was going through an alleyway; then suddenly, a woman in pink caught me staring at the ship, and she assumed I was planning on sneaking in, even though that was NOT true. And when I was about to leave, she hit me on the head with her gun…_

Sean could only remember what happened before be fell into unconsciousness, but despite that, he figured out that he was actually in the ship. His head dropped, and he grumbled, scolding himself yet again, "I shouldn't have stared at the ship. Then perhaps I wouldn't have gotten myself into this."

Suddenly, Sean heard the door open. He peered up at the person who opened it, and although the room was still dark, there was light in the hallway, so the room Sean was in was barely illuminated by the hall lights. Because of that, Sean was able to see what the person looked like. It was a man, with purple hair, bandages over the left eye, and was wearing a butterfly-printed kimono. Yep, Sean saw this man perfectly. The only question that was in the back of his mind was _who_ this person was. He wanted to ask who he was, but a lump formed in his throat, preventing him from speaking. Sean frowned at himself, wondering why he couldn't form any words.

But when the purple-haired man came closer, Sean felt a dangerous aura coming from him. He gasped almost inaudibly, and had a horrible feeling that this man wasn't a friendly person. The look in his one good eye was menacing enough to scare Sean. More sweat formed on the 19-year-olds' forehead, and he panicked as his hands started to tremble, _Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?! I don't know who this man is, but something tells me he's not a nice person!_

He had no idea how right he was. Sean didn't realize that he was in a criminals' ship. But, he was going to find out very soon.

The one-eyed man crouched down, and smirked as he put his pipe between his lips, "My, my, it seems you're awake now. Did you have a nice nap?" A snicker escaped his lips; though he found his own question amusing, Sean didn't laugh. He didn't even giggle. But then again, he was feeling petrified that not only was he tied up in rope; he also flinched when the man gave him a wicked grin.

Sean finally spoke, but he stammered, "Wh-Where am I?"

The man snickered yet again, but he truthfully answered, "You're in the Kiheitai ship."

Sean lowered his brows, and murmured the name of the ship, "Kiheitai…"

_Weird. It sounds similar to "Kaientai"._

The man chuckled a bit darkly while Sean asked another question, "Wh-Who a-are you?"

He blinked his olive eye, and grinned, "You don't know who I am? Well, this is quite surprising. I'm usually the most 'popular' criminal in all of Edo, but apparently, not every person knows who I am."

"Wait…c-c-criminal?!" Okay, now Sean was _really_ panicking. He just found out that this weird man was a _criminal_. A _goddamn_ _criminal_! Sean completely regretted looking at the ship. If only he had stayed at Gintoki's house. He still would've been pissed, but at least he'd be out of this freaking mess.

The man laughed, "Yes, I am a criminal, young man. Here, let me _introduce_ myself." He stood up, and pulled his pipe from his lips. He then blew out a puff of smoke, which hit Sean's face. Sean coughed, and shut his eyes tightly as water formed.

The older male "introduced" himself, "My name is Takasugi Shinsuke. I am the leader of this crew."

Sean repeated his name in his thoughts, _Takasugi Shinsuke…_

He barely opened his eyes, and a tear trailed down his cheek as he asked gruffly, "Why a-am I t-tied up?"

Shinsuke's smirk grew wider, "While you were unconscious, Matako tied you up, and put you in this room. She tied you up, because she didn't want to let you go so easily."

Sean glared at the Kiheitai leader, but figured, _She must be the woman who made me unconscious._

Shinsuke glanced at the fearful man, and asked as he set the end of his pipe in his mouth again, "Now tell me…why were you about to sneak into my ship?"

_Oh my god, this again?! How many times am I going to have to repeat myself?! What part of "I was only looking at your ship" do these people not understand?!_

Apparently, according to Shinsuke and Matako, 'I just looked at your huge-ass ship' really meant 'I was going to get in there without anybody noticing, and I'd steal all your fine jewelry and other expensive shit'.

Sean grew frustrated, and he cursed out loud, "I _wasn't_ going to sneak into your goddamn ship! Apparently, the woman who knocked me out didn't listen to me! Did she tell you all this?!"

Shinsuke expected Sean to yell in anger, but he didn't think he'd be this loud. His brow twitched in slight irritation. However, Shinsuke responded, trying to remain calm, "As a matter of fact, she did, though all she said was, 'this man was about to get into our ship'."

"OH, FOR THE LOVE OF FREAKING CHRIST!" Sean shouted, wanting to face-palm himself. "Sir, I didn't mean to get too close to your ship, but if you can just let me go, we can forget all about this! Heck, I won't even tell anybody that I met you!"

That's when Shinsuke laughed out loud. Sean gasped, and tried to release himself from the ropes, but he knew it was hopeless, because the rope around him was too tight (Though not so tight, that he had trouble breathing).

Shinsuke narrowed his one eye at the younger man, and replied, "Nice try, but your 'freedom lines' won't save you."

Wait, what the hell was he talking about?! "Freedom lines"?! That made no sense whatsoever!

While Sean was hoping Christine would save him, he whimpered, "Wh-What are you g-going to do? Are you going t-to torture m-me?"

Shinsuke held his chin, still having that smirk plastered on his face. The creepy look on Shinsuke's features sent shivers up Sean's spine. It was obvious enough that he wanted to get the heck away from this insane man. Unfortunately, with Sean being all tied up and whatnot, he couldn't run away, let alone stand up. Even if he attempted to stand on his own, he would fall down, because it'd be difficult to try standing with your hands tied as well. Sean tried doing that years ago in his home world, but he fell down, maybe, four times.

So yeah, Sean felt like he was going to crap his pants, because he was that scared of Shinsuke. Thankfully, though, he didn't feel like going to the bathroom…uh, okay, that was kind of awkward.

Anyway, Shinsuke answered after a moment of silence, "I'll have to think about that. Until then, you can just stay here."

Almost immediately, Shinsuke heard someone entering the room. He rotated his head to the side, and saw his friend, who had crazy-looking teal hair; he wore a teal jacket, pants, headphones, and sunglasses.

Both Sean and Shinsuke stared at the teal-haired man as he arched a brow up. He asked, "Shinsuke, who is this man? And why is he in my room?"

Whoa, whoa, whoa…hold on a freaking second…Matako put Sean in _that man's_ room?! Alright, this was getting a little out of hand here…

Sean's jaw dropped to the floor, and he yelled, "Th-Th-This is _your_ room?!"

Shinsuke clenched his teeth in anger, and he swiftly pulled his sword out. He then pointed the tip of his sword in front of Sean's face, and growled, "Stop yelling. If you keep that up, the first thing I'm going to do to you is cut all your hair off."

That didn't sound much like a threat, but Sean glanced at the man fearfully, and yelped, "N-No! Not my hair! I love my hair!"

A snort of amusement escaped Shinsuke's lips, and he pulled his sword away as he ordered, "Then quit yelling. Otherwise you _will_ lose your precious hair."

He turned around, and walked away from him, leaving the room.

The spiky-haired male peered at Sean, and since the man obviously didn't know why he was here, Sean spoke up, stuttering once more, "H-Hey, mister. S-Since you don't know wh-who I am, c-could you at least untie these ropes? I-I won't try to run away."

"Hm," The man hummed.

Sean didn't feel scared towards the teal-haired man as he was to Shinsuke, but he figured that this guy was part of the crew, which meant that Shinsuke's friend was also a criminal. Wonderful.

The man replied, "I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but my guess is that you were taken hostage, I daresay."

"Er, yeah," Sean admitted with a cracked smile.

"Then I can't untie the ropes."

"Eh?! Why not?!"

"When people are taken hostage, they're supposed to be tied up for a long period of time, I daresay."

"That makes no sense!" Sean snarled. "I asked if you could untie the ropes, because my arms are starting to grow numb!"

"That's too bad," He shrugged. "And besides, Shinsuke would probably be very angry with me if I released you."

"Didn't I just say I wasn't going to run away?!"

"I didn't hear that part."

"HUH?!" Sean practically yelled, feeling utterly bamboozled.

The man was about to leave his room, but Sean exclaimed, "C-Can you at least t-tell me who you are as well?!"

"Kawakami Bansai," He answered in a split second. "I am an assassin, I daresay."

_A-A-Assassin?! That's worse than a "normal" criminal!_

Sean felt like he was going to faint. His vision was starting to blur again.

Bansai asked, "Since you've asked for my name, I'll ask for yours. Who are you?"

Sean stammered for the umpteenth time, "Sh-Shojaro…" He almost accidentally said his real name, but luckily, he was able to say his fake one before his tongue slipped. He was more careful than Christine was, when it came to keeping your tongue tied…if that made any sense.

Bansai hummed once again, "Hm…well, Shojaro, I'll just say this. The tune in your song is practically screeching in my ears."

"Wait, what?!" It wasn't shocking that Sean was confused. In fact, whenever Bansai spoke to somebody – not including the Kiheitai – and brought up their "song", the person would give him a what-the-fuck look. But even when Sean gawked at him, Bansai didn't bother explaining what he meant by his "tune".

Instead of clarifying his comment, Bansai left his room, and closed the door behind himself. Sean was alone again.

Sean had mixed thoughts about this Kiheitai crew. He didn't like Matako at all, because she believed he was going to break into Shinsuke's ship; he was frightened of Shinsuke, because his expression looked like someone on a killing spree (Though Shinsuke _does_ do that sometimes); and he thought Bansai was the most confusing guy he'd ever met.

The brown-haired man sighed, but then noticed that his book wasn't with him. Sean murmured, "Eh?"

He glanced around the room to see if his book was in here, but when he didn't see it, his eyes widened, and he yelled in his head, _Oh, no! I must've left my book behind!_

His whole face twitched multiple times; his book had been left behind. It was probably still in the alleyway…unless somebody stole it. If somebody took his book, then Sean would most likely have a heart attack. That book was special to him! It was like the best friend he never had! He even "saved" it when Sougo was about to take it away from him! If his book was stolen, Sean would bawl his eyes out all night. He just hoped that his sister found it, and kept it in a safe place.

Yeah…that was the only thing he hoped for.

**At the grocery store…**

Christine and Shinpachi each grabbed a "Power-up bar" from the shelf in one of the isles. It was about 4:45 in the morning, but despite how early/late it was, there were between 10-20 people in the grocery store. Most of them also grabbed a "Power-up bar"; apparently, they had to work really early in the morning.

The teenagers were about to head over to the cash register, but they spotted a familiar figure.

They saw a man with long black hair, and dark eyes. His friend beside him looked like a penguin or a duck.

Shinpachi and Christine widened their eyes, and they immediately found out who it was.

Shinpachi called out his name, "Katsura-san!"

Katsura Kotaro turned around, and saw the teenagers walking towards him. Shinpachi asked the man, "What're you doing here?"

Kotaro crossed his arms, "I could ask you the same question."

"We were getting some power-up bars."

"What a coincidence," Kotaro replied. "I was getting me and Elizabeth the same thing."

He peered at the girl beside Shinpachi, and asked, pointing his forefinger at her, "Shinpachi-san, who is this girl?"

Shinpachi responded, introducing Christine to Kotaro, "This is Christiko-san." He gazed at the shorter girl, and added, "Christiko-san, this is Katsura Kotaro."

"Nice to meet you," Christine greeted a bit blandly.

"Nice to meet you, too," Kotaro greeted back. "You know, your name sounds-"

Christine interrupted before he could complete his sentence, "Weird, I know."

He shook his head, "I wasn't going to say that. I meant your name sounds unique."

"Eh? Unique?" Christine was surprised at Kotaro for "complimenting" on her fake name, but she was also baffled, because "Christiko" wasn't even an actual Japanese name. The only reason why it _barely_ sounded Japanese at all was because Christine replaced the last two letters of her name with "ko".

Kotaro added, "It's not the best name I've heard, but it sounds…intriguing."

Christine rolled her eyes, and told her friend, "Come on, Shinpachi-san. We need to get these bars."

"Oh, right," Shinpachi muttered as they quickly walked to the cashier. He glanced at Kotaro from the corner of his eye, and said, "It was nice seeing you again, Katsura-san."

Kotaro was about to reply, but he saw a Shinsengumi member enter the store. Kotaro gasped, and it turned it out was Hijikata Toshiro.

Toshiro caught the long-haired man from the corner of his eye, and he snarled, "Katsura!"

Kotaro turned to his companion, and he exclaimed, "Let's go, Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth lifted up a sign, which was written out, 'You don't need to tell me'.

No more words were exchanged before Kotaro and Elizabeth stormed off. Shinpachi and Christine watched the duo as they sprinted passed Toshiro. Toshiro yelled out his name again, and ran after him. Christine already knew that Kotaro wasn't going to get caught, even when Toshiro was going to chase him all morning.

Both teenagers rolled their eyes, and they bought their power-up bars.

A moment or two later, they left the grocery store, and walked down the dark road as they unwrapped their bars.

Shinpachi glanced at Christine, and asked with a hint of anxiousness in his tone, "Alright, Christiko-san. Since we're going to be heading to the Kiheitai ship very soon, will you _please_ tell me what your plan is? I can't exactly help you if I don't know what it is."

A smirk crept up Christine's features, and she took a bite of her power-up bar before answering, "Okay, I'll tell you."

Shinpachi sighed, "Thank you."

The girl gulped down the chewed-up food, and explained what her plan was.

As soon as she finished, Shinpachi gave her an uncertain stare. He hesitantly asked, "Are you sure it's going to work?"

"Not entirely," She admitted. "But hopefully, I won't get caught while trying to get my brother out of there."

Shinpachi ran his fingers through his hair, and thought out loud, "I hope I won't get captured as well."

Christine ate the rest of her bar, and thought, feeling confident, _Don't worry, Sean. I'll get you out of that ship, even if I have to pick up a fight with the Kiheitai crew!_

* * *

**I didn't explain Christine's plan, because it would ruin the surprise. It will be revealed in the next chapter (Obviously), though. ;)**

**I realized that I haven't put Katsura in this story at all, so I gave him a cameo for this chapter. Hopefully, I can add him more often.**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I watch anime on animefushigi, youtube, and sometimes watchanimeon. I used to watch stuff on crunchyroll, but I almost never go there anymore. :P**

**_Question of the update:_ Which characters in Gintama do you not care about (I'm not talking about characters you dislike)?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 9! :)**


	10. Saving a sibling requires good luck

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: Come to think of it, when was the last time Prince Hata appeared (Because I really don't remember)? o.o I was waiting for Bansai and Katsura to appear as well. XD But I'll try to make them appear more often, I promise.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Saving a sibling requires good luck**

**15 minutes later…**

The teenagers slowly walked through an alleyway, and they peeked at the Kiheitai ship. Christine and Shinpachi saw that Takasugi Shinsuke, Kawakami Bansai, and Kijima Matako were outside, standing in front of their ship. Apparently, they were having a talk; although neither teen could hear what they said, Christine was fairly certain that they were having a conversation about Sean.

Christine faced Shinpachi, and asked, "Are you ready to distract them, Shinpachi-san?"

He slowly nodded, but frowned as a drop of sweat rolled down his cheek, "Yes, but I'm really…nervous."

The girl smirked, "Don't be. When they chase you, run as fast as you can, that way, you won't be taken hostage as well. The last thing I want is for you to get captured."

Shinpachi smiled, "Thanks, Christiko-san."

A low chuckle escaped Christine's lips as she grabbed a rectangular-shaped radio (How she got it will always remain a mystery). The radio was silver, and it was a bit rusty, but nothing too serious. Christine also grabbed a cassette tape (Again, it will always be a mystery of how Christine managed to get it), and put it in the front part of the radio.

The moment she put the cassette in, she pressed the "play" button, but she quickly pressed "pause" the second the song started to play.

Christine gave the taller teenager the radio, and commanded, "Go, Shinpachi-san."

Shinpachi took a deep breath, and replied, "I'll try my best."

With that, he left the alleyway. Christine waited for Shinpachi to distract them, but she wanted him to be quick, because she didn't like waiting for a long period of time. In fact, she would usually get agitated whenever she had to wait a long time.

Shinpachi ran through the bushes, and though he made a few noises by stepping on some branches, the sounds weren't so loud, that the Kiheitai heard him. Shinpachi sighed, but wasn't entirely relieved, because he still needed to get their attention. And hopefully, he wouldn't regret doing this.

He eventually left the bushes, and when he noticed that he was at least 20 meters away from the dangerous crew, he held the bottom of the radio, and muttered under his breath, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

The boy bit his lower lip, and without another second to spare, he pushed the "play" button. Shinpachi then heard the music playing _really loudly_. The song that was playing was "Party all the Time" by Eddie Murphy. Obviously, Shinpachi never heard of this song before, because it wasn't Japanese. He couldn't understand the lyrics, but he already knew that this song was from a different country.

He couldn't care less about that, though; right now, Shinsuke, Bansai, and Matako spotted him, and a gulp went down Shinpachi's throat as he thought, _Guess now's a good time to run._

Part of him wished he brought a sword; then he'd try to fight the Kiheitai. Then again, even if he did bring a weapon, he probably wouldn't survive very long, because fighting against three people would be too much for him. It was difficult enough when he fought with Takechi Henpeita.

Speaking of Takechi Henpeita, where exactly was that lolicon complex…? Bah, never mind, nobody cares about him, so why bother worrying about him?

Anyway, the Kiheitai trio dashed towards Shinpachi, but Shinpachi dropped the radio, and shouted in his mind, _Time to run!_

In less than a second, Shinpachi sprinted off as the radio hit the ground. It broke, causing the music to stop abruptly, but it didn't stop the Kiheitai from chasing after poor Shinpachi.

When Christine was sure they were far enough, she clenched her fist, and raised it in front of her chest as she mumbled to herself, "Okay, time to get moving!"

A grin crept up her features, and she stormed out of the alleyway, and headed towards the ship. She wanted to get over this quickly; that way, she wouldn't have to deal with the Kiheitai as well. She had no weapon, after all; when your opponent has a weapon, and you don't, you're in _huge_ trouble.

Christine ran into the big ship, and halted when she entered the hall. She looked both ways, and thought, _Let's see, where can Sean be? He's gotta be in one of these rooms._

She knitted her brows, and not surprisingly, she opened the first door she spotted. Christine pulled the door open, and exclaimed, "Sean?!"

Sean wasn't there.

Christine chewed her lip, and rushed to the next door.

Sean wasn't in that room either.

The green-eyed girl kicked the wall in frustration, and cursed out as a vein throbbed in her neck, "Motherfucker!"

All of a sudden, Christine heard her name being called. "Christine?!"

She gasped, but then yelled, "Sean?! Is that you?!"

"Yes, it's me! Get me out of here!"

Christine smirked, and, once again, jogged through the hallway. She ordered her older brother, "Sean, keep talking, so that I'll be able to tell which room you're in!"

At first, Sean was wondering if the Kiheitai were still in the ship. But since he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, he decided to shout, "I'm in here!"

Christine rolled her eyes – since saying 'I'm here' didn't help – but didn't say anything. She continued running through the ship, and began to wonder if the crew was going to return anytime soon. If they caught her trying to rescue her brother, she'd try to punch them in the stomach. But, that wouldn't work very well, because they were adults, and she was just a teenager. Teenagers don't exactly pick up a good fight with adults.

Sean repeated 'I'm in here' over and over again. Christine admitted that it was starting to get annoying, but if Sean was silent, she would never be able to find him.

Finally, after what seemed like hours (Yes, it was an exaggeration, but who cares?), Christine opened another door, and she gazed at the tied up man.

She gave her brother a huge smile, and stomped her way towards Sean. As soon as she was in front of him, she knelt on the floor, and looked for a knot to untie.

While the girl was trying to find a knot, Sean sighed, "I'm so glad you're here."

"Of course. Did you think I was going to let the Kiheitai torture you?" She asked rhetorically.

Sean peered at her frustrated expression as Christine added, "How did you get captured, anyway?"

He explained briefly, "I was in an alleyway, and I stared at the ship, but I was caught by some woman in pink."

"Kijima Matako," Christine corrected him.

Sean heartily chuckled, but Christine asked, "By the way, Sean, why did you yell out my real name? Did you already know that I came into the ship alone?"

The man admitted, "Not really, though you once told me that you like doing things on your own."

She shrugged her shoulders, and within seconds, she managed to find the knot on Sean's back. The corner of her lips tugged up, and Christine hurriedly untied it. The second it was untied, the ropes fell off of Sean's chest. Sean snatched the ropes off, and when he tossed them to the floor, he rested his palms on the floorboard, and pushed himself up.

He straightened his kimono top, and thanked the girl. Sean said, "My butt was starting to grow numb."

She snickered, "Now you're going to have a hard time sitting down."

Sean rolled his eyes, but grabbed his sisters' wrist, and commanded, "Come on, we need to get the heck out of here!"

Christine nodded, and the Wardenhall siblings jogged out of the room.

As they were trying to get out of the ship, Sean remembered something. He looked at Christine from the corner of his eye, and questioned, "Christine, did you find my book in the alleyway?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," Christine answered. She put her hand into her crimson-colored sash, and pulled out Sean's book. Christine put the book in her sash before she and Shinpachi went to the grocery store. She was actually glad to pull it out, because she felt uncomfortable with the book pressed against her stomach.

Anyway, she handed Sean his book, and Sean's mouth parted as he took the book away from the girl. He then hugged it, and exclaimed, "Book! I'm so happy to see you again! I was afraid you were stolen."

A bead of sweat trickled down Christine's cheek, and she pointed out, "Uh, I'm still here, you know."

Ignoring her, Sean continued "comforting" his book, and he cried, "I'll never leave you behind again!"

Christine's vein throbbed, and she grabbed a handful of Sean's short hair as she yelled, "Don't ignore me!" Although she was grabbing his hair, they were still running.

Sean snapped back into reality, and shrieked, "Ch-Christine, let go of my hair!"

She did as told, but huffed, "Don't ignore me, then."

Sean sighed.

Just then, they saw somebody leaving a room. Christine gasped, and almost immediately found out who it was.

Christine and Sean halted, and the when the person saw them, he asked, referring to Sean, "Aren't you the man Matako-san captured?"

Sean's teeth clenched, and he cursed under his breath, "Dammit!"

Christine ordered harshly as she glared at him, "Out of the way, Takechi Henpeita! We're getting out of this hellhole!"

Henpeita lifted a hand up, and replied, "You shouldn't be so rude. At least say 'hello' to me."

Christine slapped her hand on her forehead, and grumbled, "We just met, and you're already making me face-palm myself."

"Actually," Sean spoke up. "Face-palming yourself requires your actual face."

"You're not helping, bro," She murmured.

Henpeita interjected, "Hm, you really are the man Matako-san caught." He peered at Christine, and then questioned, "Who are you, exactly?"

"That's not important!" Christine snapped. "We're getting out of here, and you can't stop us!"

She and Sean took a few steps forward, but Henpeita didn't move an inch. Both Sean and Christine frowned, and Sean tried asking politely, "Um, sir, could you please move? We'd like to get out of here."

Christine gawked at him, and thought, _Sean, can't you tell Takechi-Hentai is also part of the Kiheitai?!_

Instead of moving to the side, Henpeita shook his head while replying, "You didn't say 'hello' to me, so I can't move."

"WHAT?!" Christine screamed. "That doesn't matter! Just move, or else I'll have to fight you!"

"Young lady, I'm not the fighting type. Besides, I wouldn't want to fight a young girl like you."

"Huh?" She stared at the old man as if he was out of his freaking mind.

"You look too innocent for me to fight."

"Uh…" Christine and Sean murmured at the same time.

For some reason, Sean was feeling a little crept out by this old guy. Sure, the look in his eyes was weird, but the way he was acting was even weirder.

Without warning, Henpeita started walking towards them. He added, "I don't like battling against children."

Christine gave him a what-the-fuck look, and she took a step back as she screamed, "Stay back, you creep!"

"I'm not a creep," Henpeita assured. "I'm a feminist."

"Then why're you walking towards my sister?!" Sean hollered when he noticed that Henpeita was actually heading towards Christine.

Shivers went up Christine's spine, and she scowled at the so-called "feminist", "Get away from me!"

"I want you to tell me your name," He told her.

Henpeita reached his hand out towards her, but Sean swiftly smacked his book on the side of Henpeita's head. The old man grunted, and he hit the floor by his back. His eyes looked the same as before, but since he didn't get up immediately, Sean guessed, "Is he unconscious?"

"I have a feeling he is," Christine responded. "But forget him; we still have to leave, before the Kiheitai comes back."

"They're still outside?"

"Probably, though I'm not exactly sure if Shinpachi-san's distracting the crew any longer."

"Wait, was Shinpachi-san helping you?"

Christine nodded, "Yeah. I made him distract the Kiheitai; that way, it'd be easier for me to rescue you."

Sean frowned, "I hope he doesn't get caught."

She grabbed his sleeve, and they both exited the ship.

The siblings ran as fast as they could, and despite how tired they were getting, neither of them stopped until they reached the alleyway.

As soon as they entered the dark alleyway, they abruptly stopped, and leaned their backs against the walls. Both of them panted heavily in exhaustion, and Sean peered at his book before wheezing, "I'm so happy my book's safe. Now I won't have to bawl my eyes out."

Christine rolled her eyes, "You _really_ need to stop treating your book like it's your child. If you want an _actual_ child, get yourself a girlfriend, date her for about two years, marry her, and then knock the woman up. _Then_ you'll have yourself a beautiful, but spoiled, brat."

Sean glared at his sister, and replied, "I don't want any kids."

"Why're you treating your book like one, then?" Christine taunted.

He scoffed, "It doesn't annoy the hell out of me."

"Are you mocking me?!" She snarled as she formed her hands into fists.

Sean smirked at her, but they heard somebody panting as well. They turned around, and saw Shinpachi kneeling on the ground. His pants were heavier than Christine and Sean's, but he looked like he was about to faint.

Christine took two steps in front of the teenage boy, and she asked, "Are you okay, Shinpachi-san?"

Shinpachi lifted his head up, and exclaimed, "Don't _ever_ make me do something like that again!"

Both siblings flinched. Sean glanced at Christine, and asked out of curiosity, "Christiko, what exactly did Shinpachi-san do to distract the Kiheitai?" He called her by her fake name, because Shinpachi was in front of them.

Christine explained as she crossed her arms, "I made him hold a radio, and play a song. He was kind of close to the Kiheitai, so they obviously heard him. They then chased after Shinpachi-san."

After her explanation, it became silent. Nobody had said a word. Shinpachi stood up slowly as Sean gawked at the girl. He parted his lips as if he was about to speak, but no words escaped his mouth. Sean then glanced at Shinpachi, who was sweating like a pig. Sean suddenly felt the atmosphere grow heavy, and as a few seconds passed, a lump formed in the back of his throat. Was this moment that awkward? Christine didn't look affected by the intense atmosphere, but Sean felt like he was the only person who could feel how utterly awkward this was. Hell, even Shinpachi – despite how sweaty he was – didn't seem to mind the awkwardness.

Finally, after a minute of dead silence, Sean exclaimed, "That's the _stupidest_ thing I've ever heard!"

"It's the truth, though," Shinpachi pointed out, catching his breath.

Sean rubbed the bridge of his nose, and grumbled, "I can't believe you, Christiko…"

Christine stuck her tongue out at him, but Shinpachi asked, "Christiko-san, what was the song that was playing on the radio, by the way?"

"It was called 'Party all the Time'. It's an American song."

Shinpachi furrowed a brow, but murmured to himself, "That explains why I couldn't understand any of the lyrics."

Sean suddenly yawned, "Oh, boy. I'm really tired. What time is it?"

Christine responded, "Well, when Shinpachi-san and I left the house to get you, we saw that it was almost 4:30. So I'm going to guess that it's nearly five in the morning."

"Five in the morning?!" Sean replied in complete shock. "I mean, I knew I was gone for a while, but I didn't realize it was _this_ late!"

Christine also yawned, "Dammit, Shojaro. Now you made _me_ yawn!"

A yawn _also_ escaped Shinpachi's mouth. He covered his mouth with his hand, and said, "We probably didn't get enough sleep."

"Let's head back to Yorozuya's, then," Christine suggested as she yawned again.

The men nodded in agreement, and they headed out of the alleyway.

**Meanwhile…**

Shinsuke, Bansai, and Matako returned to the ship, after losing sight of Shinpachi. When they stepped into their "home", they noticed that Henpeita was lying on the floor, possibly unconscious.

Everyone raised a brow, and they looked at each other as if asking who should try to wake the pervert up. Matako heavily sighed, and kicked her foot on Henpeita's hip as she ordered, "Oi, pervert. Wake up."

Henpeita sat up, and asked, "Where did those kids go?"

"What kids?" Matako questioned.

"Didn't you kidnap a man earlier?"

Matako paused at first, but then slowly said, "Yeah…"

Henpeita held his chin, and continued, "I believe a young girl rescued him."

Matako's jaw dropped when she realized that Sean wasn't in the ship anymore. Shinsuke wasn't as shocked, but he widened his one good eye. Bansai didn't show much expression; he kind of figured Sean was going to get saved at some point.

Matako grabbed the collar of the old man's kimono top, and she yelled, obvious furious, "Why didn't you stop them?!"

Henpeita pulled Matako's hands off of his clothes, and he responded, "The man whacked me with some kind of book. Apparently, I was unconscious for a short amount of time."

The blonde woman rolled her eyes, "You still could've fought them!"

"I've told you countless times. I'm not the fighting type. Besides, I didn't even want to fight that girl."

"Oh, no," Matako growled. "I don't want to _hear_ your creepy comments, you lolicon!"

"I'm not a lolicon," He denied. "I'm a feminist."

While Matako was yelling at the old man, Bansai faced the Kiheitai leader, and asked, "Shinsuke, should we search for that man, plus that girl who rescued him?"

Shinsuke set his pipe between his lips, and shook his head, "No, let's not bother. I don't want to waste any more energy than I already have."

Shinsuke turned, and walked through the halls, ignoring Matako's yelling.

**At the Yorozuya's…**

Shinpachi, Christine, and Sean entered the Yorozuya house. Throughout their walk, they had been yawning non-stop. They were utterly annoyed by this, but they couldn't help themselves, because it proved that none of them got enough sleep. Shinpachi and Christine had about five or six hours of sleep, and Sean "slept" for about four hours, if not more.

They all removed their sandals, and stepped into the living room as Sean asked, "Do Gintoki-san and Kagura-chan know that I was kidnapped?"

The teenagers shook their heads. Sean sighed with relief, "Good."

He and Christine walked over to the couches, and they lied on them. Shinpachi arched a brow, and asked, "You're not going to get pillows and blankets?"

"We're too tired," Christine and Sean confirmed at the same time.

Shinpachi rolled his eyes, but walked towards the closet. He opened up the closet door, and grabbed the blankets silently (Kagura was obviously in there, sleeping). Shinpachi closed it, and went back to the siblings. The teenager put the blankets on Christine and Sean as they fell asleep.

Sean held his book on his chest; when Shinpachi saw this, he rolled his dark eyes once more, but smiled at them as he whispered, "Good night, Christiko-san and Shojaro-san."

Shinpachi thought about heading for home, but he felt too tired to do so. So instead, he grabbed yet another blanket; he went to the couch Christine was sleeping in, and sat down before putting the blanket over himself. Since Christine's legs weren't long enough to reach the end of the couch, Shinpachi was able to make himself comfortable. He pulled his glasses off, and put them on the coffee table.

He closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

**Four hours later…**

The sun rose, waking up Gintoki. He groaned, and ran his fingers through his silver hair as he grumbled inaudible words. The samurai got up, and he opened his door before walking out of his room. He licked his dry lips for a second before spotting the teenagers (Sean wasn't a teenager, but still). They were all sleeping on the couches, but Gintoki was sort of baffled on why Shinpachi was sleeping here as well.

Raising a silver brow, he told the trio, "Oi, wake up, brats."

Nobody responded. None of them even moved a centimeter. It was as if Gintoki was speaking to them with deaf ears.

A vein throbbed in the silver-haired man's cheek, and he took a deep breath before screaming, "WAKE UP, YOU BRATS!"

Everyone snapped their eyes wide, and Christine gripped on Shinpachi's hair as she growled, "**Don't interrupt my beauty sleep!**" Without warning, she violently threw Shinpachi, and in about two seconds, he slammed into Gintoki's body, causing the samurai to fall back.

Both Gintoki and Shinpachi grunted in pain. Shinpachi rubbed his head, and told Christine, "Christiko-san, you didn't have to throw me!"

"I need more sleep!" Christine yelled before lying back on the couch.

Sean, on the other hand, woke up, but had bags under his eyes. He sat up on the sofa, and yawned as he mumbled, "Is it morning already?"

Shinpachi blinked, and pointed out, "Shojaro-san, you have bags under your eyes."

Sean barely glanced at the teenage boy, but he questioned, "I do?" Shinpachi nodded. Sean weakly smiled, "Guess I'm extremely tired then."

He lied back down, and pulled the blanket over his head before going back to sleep as well.

* * *

**And that's the end of the "Brother Search Arc". Obviously, there will be lots of more arcs later on. Speaking of which, I've actually made a list of future arcs (Plus ideas for one or two chapters) for this story, because I have so many ideas. XD And I know nobody will care about this, but this story will be over a hundred chapters. The reason I'm making the story that long is because, as I said, I have a lot of ideas for this.**

**Don't ask why I chose the song "Party all the Time" when Shinpachi played the radio, because I have no clue. XD**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ The only characters I don't care (At all) about are Oryou, and Ikumatsu (I know a lot of people love her, and that's totally fine, but the reason why I don't care about her is because she's been in one episode [Which is probably the reason why I never write her]. Sorry, I really don't mean to be rude. It's just my opinion.).**

**_Question of the update:_ Do you watch T.V. (Not including anime)? If so, what're your favorite shows?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 10! :)**


	11. You're the diamond in the rough

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 11: You're the diamond in the rough...wait a minute, this isn't Aladdin!**

A few days had passed since Christine rescued Sean from the Kiheitai. Sean was glad to be back at the Yorozuya's, because while he was trapped in the Kiheitai ship, he was horrified that Shinsuke was going to try to hurt him in any way, shape, or form. Luckily, though, Christine managed to save him before Shinsuke could harm her brother. They were also lucky that the Kiheitai didn't even bother to chase after them. Ever since Christine saved Sean, they – plus Shinpachi, since he was also part of this – decided to not tell Gintoki or Kagura about this.

Not too long after Sean's return to the Yorozuya, Christine talked to him about getting weapons for self-defense. Sean, somewhat shockingly, agreed. The siblings decided to wait until they earned enough money, though, because right now, they were nearly broke.

Anyway, in the Yorozuya house, Shinpachi and Sean were cleaning the living room. Shinpachi was vacuuming the floor, while Sean was picking up garbage from the floor. Christine lied on the couch by her stomach, and she kicked her legs up as she murmured, "Why are you two cleaning now? The living room's not that dirty."

Shinpachi countered as he turned off the vacuum, "Christiko-san, Gin-san came back, throwing garbage all over the floor. How can you say the living room's _not_ that dirty?"

Christine paused. She tried thinking of an answer, but when she didn't say anything, Sean agreed, "Yeah, Christiko. When the floor is covered in this much junk, the living room is _that_ dirty."

She pouted, and quickly sat up as she scowled, "Okay, I'm wrong, you're right! There, I said it! Are you both happy?!"

Shinpachi frowned, but Sean snickered, "Yep."

Shinpachi sighed, "And besides, a customer is coming over today, so I'd like this place to be clean."

Christine slightly widened her green orbs, and asked, "How do you know a customer's coming over?"

"We got a call this morning, and since Gin-san wasn't here, I answered it."

"Wait, when did we get a call?!"

Sean blankly stared at his sister, and rhetorically asked, "You never stop asking questions, do you?"

"Shut up, Shojaro!" Christine snarled while folding her arms over her chest.

Shinpachi, however, answered, "The customer called while you and Shojaro-san were taking a walk."

"Oh," She muttered.

Gintoki exited out of the bathroom, and said as he scratched the back of his head, "Dammit, that's the last time I'm having chili." He saw Sean and Shinpachi cleaning. Gintoki shifted a silver brow up, and questioned, "What's going on here?"

Sean glared at the samurai, and replied, "What do you mean 'what's going on here'? We're cleaning the living room, because _you_ threw a lot of garbage in here!"

"Tch," Gintoki scoffed. "When have I _ever_ left garbage on the floor?"

Shinpachi snarled, "When you returned from the grocery store, you tossed _tons_ of crap on the floorboard!"

Gintoki rolled his eyes as he sat on the couch, "The garbage can was too full."

"You could've tossed it out, and put it in a new bag!"

Gintoki didn't reply. He inserted his pinkie in his right nostril, and crossed his legs as he mumbled, "I want some strawberry milk now." He glanced at Christine, and ordered, "Oi, weirdo girl. Get me my strawberry milk."

"No," She immediately replied.

He glared at the girl, and hollered, "Go get me my milk!"

"No!" Christine repeated herself. "Get it yourself, lazy butt!"

While they were arguing about who was going to get Gintoki's strawberry milk, Sean asked Shinpachi out of curiosity, "Shinpachi-san, since you just said Gintoki-san went to the grocery store, what exactly did he get?"

Shinpachi responded without looking at the man, "Not surprisingly, he bought more ice cream."

Sean frowned as he tossed the bits of garbage in a plastic bag, "That's it? No _real_ food?"

Shinpachi sighed deeply, "Apparently not."

Sean shook his head, and thought, _I'm amazed Gintoki-san doesn't have diabetes yet._

Just then, they all heard a knock at the front door. Everyone glanced at the door, and Shinpachi offered, "I'll get it."

The 19-year-old finally finished picking up the leftover junk in the living room. He tied a knot on the top of the bag, and headed for the garbage can. But when be looked inside the can, he noticed that it really was full. _Too_ full, more specifically. Another frown appeared on Sean's face, but he grabbed the big bag, and pulled it out. He tied a knot on the black plastic bag as well.

Shinpachi opened up the door, and saw a woman with long, alloy orange hair, and violet eyes. Her hair was in a ponytail, and it was over her left shoulder. The woman wore a dark-blue kimono, with white swirl prints, and a black sash.

The woman asked, "You're the Yorozuya, right?"

Shinpachi nodded, "Yes, ma'am. Please come in."

Sean passed them, and said, "Excuse me."

The woman slipped her sandals off, and she stepped into the living room as Kagura came out of the kitchen, holding a bowl of rice, with a raw egg on top. Wait, was she in the kitchen all along? Maybe that was the reason why the author hadn't mentioned her in this chapter so far.

Anyway, Kagura sat on the couch next to Gintoki, and she asked as she stared at the orange-haired woman, "Gin-chan, who is this woman? Is she your hooker?"

The woman's eyes widened in utter shock, but Shinpachi cried, "Kagura-chan! _Never_ ask a customer that question! It's _very_ disrespectful!"

Kagura paid no mind to him. Instead of replying to the enraged teenager, she grabbed her chopsticks, and began eating her "meal". Gintoki, though, smacked her in the head, causing her to choke on some of the rice that was already in her mouth. She didn't have trouble breathing, but she coughed a bit before gulping down the rice.

Gintoki snarled, "She's _not_ my hooker! I don't even _know_ her!"

Sean returned, and questioned, "Is this woman our customer?"

Shinpachi was still angry at Kagura for asking such an inappropriate question, but a sigh parted his lips, and he answered, "Yes."

Christine got off of the other couch, letting the woman sit in it. She then stood next to the sofa the Yorozuya were sitting in, and the woman cleared her throat before introducing yourself, "My name is Nasuro Keiko. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She bowed slightly, and Shinpachi greeted back, "It's nice to meet you, too, Nasuro-san."

Keiko rested her hands on her lap, and she decided to ask, "Now, about my request…you can do any job, as long as you get paid, correct?"

Everyone looked at each other for a moment before Shinpachi responded, "Yes…"

Keiko narrowed her eyes, "I don't want to leave you any trouble, but…I'd like you to steal a valuable diamond from the museum."

"What?" Everybody said at the same time. Even Christine and Kagura were staring at Keiko, as if she had lost her mind.

A sigh escaped Keiko's lips, and she added, "It was stolen from me."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second! I'm really confused here!" Christine halted the woman. "You were just telling us to steal a diamond from a museum…is it actually yours? I'm freaking lost here!" The girl gripped on her hair, and started pulling it as if she was about to rip it off.

Keiko clarified, "Yes, the diamond is mine. It was given to me by my great-grandfather. He gave it to me on the day he died, which was four and a half years ago. He told me that this diamond cost about a million yen."

"A million yen?" Shinpachi repeated, finally calming down from his anger. "Was your grandfather a millionaire?"

"You could say that," Keiko shrugged. "Anyway, I had kept the diamond since his passing, but around a week ago, a group of men broke into my house, and they took it from me. Before they left, I asked them why they did it, and they said, 'We take things that look very valuable'."

After her explanation, everyone was silent. Sean and Shinpachi had their brows twitched, and Christine gawked at the woman as sweat formed on her cheek.

Sean broke the silence, but he practically yelled, "That…makes _no_ sense! How do you even know your diamond's at the museum?!"

Keiko responded, "The group of men told me they worked there, so apparently, they're spies who take expensive-looking stuff."

Sean face-palmed himself, "And you're telling us to steal the diamond back? Isn't that a little hypocritical?"

"It may be, but I just want my diamond back!" Keiko retorted. "My grandfather had kept it for over six decades! When he gave the diamond to me, he told me to keep it until I died!"

The woman bowed again, but rested her head on the coffee table as she pleaded, "I beg of you! Please get my diamond back!"

Once more, silence filled the living room. Sean and Shinpachi gave Keiko a sympathetic expression while Gintoki, Kagura, and Christine just blinked multiple times. Nobody had said anything until Gintoki spoke up.

"How much are you willing to pay?"

Keiko slowly lifted her head up, and pulled out an envelope from her kimono sleeve. She tossed the small pack on the coffee table, and answered as she wiped her eyes, preventing from any tears escaping, "200,000 yen."

Gintoki's jaw dropped, and he yelled, "200,000 yen?!" Keiko seemed startled by how loud the silver-haired man was, but she nodded in response. Gintoki raised a fist up, and added, still shouting, "We'll do the job!"

Keiko smiled with relief, "Good. Now, this job might be a little complicated, so I'll be helping you out."

"Let me guess," Christine began. "We're going to have to go into the museum when it closes, and then steal the diamond, right?"

"Well, you're going into the museum when it closes, yes, but since there will be guards there, you're going to have to go into the ceiling."

"Figures," Christine mumbled as she rested her cheek in her palm.

Sean questioned, "What time does the museum close?"

Keiko replied, "Eight."

Gintoki didn't pay much attention to the long-haired woman, because he stared at the envelope, filled with lots of money. The man was about to grab the packet, but Keiko caught him, and snatched it away from the coffee table.

She glared at the idiot, and told him, "You'll get your money when the job is done."

Gintoki frowned, and thought, _Dammit._

**Hours later…**

The Edo museum closed. Employees were locking up the doors for the night, and customers were leaving, now heading for home. Most of the lights in the building were turned off, and two guards walked through the halls, holding flashlights.

Outside of the building, Keiko, the Yorozuya, and the Wardenhall siblings hid in the bushes, preventing themselves from being seen by the guards. Two more guards were at the front entrance of the museum.

Keiko faced the Yorozuya, Christine, and Sean, and she explained as she unzipped her bag, "Alright, here's what you need to do. First, you'll need to get to the rooftop."

"How're we going to do that? We can't climb the wall like Spider-man," Christine asked. "Also, do we _really_ have to wear these black latex suits?"

Keiko made them wear latex suits, which covered their whole bodies, except for their faces. They put them on soon before they left the Yorozuya house, and while they were on their way to the museum, people stared at them, wondering if they were going to rob a bank. They were going to "rob", but they weren't at a bank, obviously.

Keiko answered, "There's a ladder in the back; try not to get caught. And yes, you have to wear the latex suits. If you go in the museum while wearing your regular clothes, you'll only have the risk of getting caught."

"How so?" Sean asked with a raised brow.

"In the room, where the diamond is, there're lasers. Your clothes are a bit 'loose', and if they touched the lasers, the alarm would go off."

Sean contemplated his words for a few seconds before replying, "That makes sense, then. Still, I'm kind of getting a wedgie."

"Same here," Christine admitted as she pulled a bit of latex from her buttocks.

Keiko rolled her violet eyes, "You're not going to be in latex all night, so don't start complaining."

Sean frowned, "I wasn't complaining."

Keiko ignored the azure-haired man, and pulled out a laptop from her bag. She then knelt on the grass, and placed her computer on her lap. She turned the laptop on, and opened up some sort of document about the Edo museum. Everybody peered at the computer screen, wondering what she was going to do.

Gintoki questioned as he picked his nose, "What're you doing?"

"I'm uploading the monitor-scan," She commented.

"The _what_?" Gintoki shifted a brow up as he stared at Keiko.

"I don't remember exactly what it's called, but that's not important." The woman also pulled out earpieces from the bag, and she handed each one to the group as she added, "Anyway, each of you will wear this earpiece, that way I can be able to track you while you're getting the diamond."

On the computer screen, there was some kind of scan from inside the museum.

Keiko turned her head to the side, and asked as she put on an earpiece as well (Only she had a microphone), "Does it work?"

When they all heard the voice in their earpieces, they nodded. Keiko smiled, "Alright. Now get moving. I want you to get my diamond as soon as possible. And remember, don't let any guards catch you."

After they nodded again, they left Keiko, and headed for the back of the building. No guards were there, but there was a security camera near the top of the roof.

Christine whispered, but cursed out, "Shit! There're security cameras! How're we going to get the diamond without being noticed?"

"Allow me," Kagura suggested with a wicked smirk. She stepped beside the corner of the building, and positioned her parasol.

When Shinpachi realized what she was going to do, he groaned quietly, and thought, _Kagura-chan's not going to shoot the security cameras, is she?_

Shinpachi was hoping Kagura wouldn't do something so idiotic, but unfortunately for him, she shot, and the bullet hit the security camera. The camera broke, and Kagura gave everyone a thumbs up as she whispered, "Got one down, uh-huh!"

Shinpachi and Sean sweat dropped, while Gintoki and Christine said at the same time, "Good job."

Christine noticed the awkward expression on Sean's face. She raised a brow, but assured, "We're going to be fine, bro."

"Uh…" Sean didn't know what to say.

Kagura dashed towards the ladder, but they heard a guard yelling, "What was that?! That sounded like a gunshot!"

The Yato widened her eyes, and she whispered, "Uh-oh! Quick, you dorks!" She speedily climbed up the ladder, and the others followed her.

Christine clenched her teeth, and thought with slight panic, _Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!_

Sean was panicking as well, only he pushed Christine's butt when it was her turn to climb up the ladder. She glared down at her older brother, and hissed, "Don't touch my butt, Shojaro!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" He tried rushing her.

Christine rolled her jade eyes, and managed to get on the rooftop in a matter of seconds. Sean was the last person to climb, but he hurried himself, because he didn't want to get caught by the guards.

Luckily, though, he stepped on the roof right before the guards appeared. Keiko hid herself in the bushes, and she was also lucky nobody saw her. Still, she had to keep track of the Yorozuya, and the siblings; that way, she would know where they were.

The guards didn't see anybody, so they left. One of them murmured, "Dammit, we must've missed them!"

Sean panted heavily, and wheezed, "That was _too_ close!"

Shinpachi tried calming down by patting his back, "At least we haven't been caught, Shojaro-san."

Sean stared at the boy, and then weakly smiled, "How about you guys go ahead? I need to catch my breath."

They all frowned, including Shinpachi. Christine crawled towards him, and when she was close enough, she grabbed his left ear, and said, "Oh, no. You're _not_ staying here. You're coming with us."

Sean winced at the pain in his ear, but he tried his best to keep his voice to a minimum. He replied, "Ow! Let go of my ear!"

"I'm not letting go until you agree to come with us. We came here to get Nasuro-san's diamond, not have you slack off!"

"I'm not slacking off! I'm just-"

"Lazy?" Kagura interrupted. "You're probably lazier than Gin-chan, uh-huh."

"I'm not lazy!" Sean countered, glaring at the redhead. "I'm…a little scared…"

Gintoki folded his arms, "Are you a sissy?"

"Excuse me?!" Sean snarled.

The silver-haired samurai repeated, "You're definitely a sissy."

"I'm not a sissy!"

"Bro, when you don't want to do something like this, you're most likely a sissy," Christine agreed with Gintoki as she yanked on her brothers' earlobe.

Sean grunted, still feeling pain on his ear. He finally gave up, and hissed through clenched teeth, "Alright, alright, I'll go with you! Now will you _please_ let go of my earlobe?!"

Christine gave him a skeptical look, and she asked, "Are you _really_ coming with us?"

"Yes!" Once again, he tried keeping his voice low.

Christine smirked, and finally let go. Sean rubbed his ear, and mumbled, "Ow…that hurt, you know."

Shinpachi found a doorway to the inner ceiling. He opened up the small door, and quietly ordered, "Come on."

Everybody followed him, and went into the inner ceiling. As soon as every person was in, Sean closed the door silently, and they started crawling.

Keiko started speaking through the earpiece, "Are you there, Yorozuya?"

Shinpachi answered in a barely audible tone, "We're here. We just entered the ceiling."

"Excellent," Keiko acknowledged.

"Are you monitoring us now?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good," Shinpachi sighed. "How far are we from the room, where the diamond is?"

"You're about 30 meters away." Keiko paused for a second before adding, "And by the way…"

"Hm?" Gintoki and Christine hummed, while Shinpachi raised a brow.

"Don't shoot the cameras next time. You nearly got caught."

"Um, Nasuro-san, Kagura-chan was the one who shot it," Shinpachi informed her as he made a cracked smile.

Kagura glared at the teenage boy, but she didn't exchange any words. Instead, she pouted, and muttered under her breath, "That stupid camera was too high, so I had to shoot it, uh-huh."

Keiko sighed, "Look, if you're going to deal with the other security cameras, then at least disconnect them. That way, it'll be _much _quieter."

"Gotcha," Shinpachi responded.

Christine realized something, and she decided to ask Gintoki, "Have you been here before?"

Gintoki answered without glancing at the girl, "Only once, when we were dealing with some dude, who was talking about hard-boil crap."

Then it clicked her mind. She remembered that there was an episode (Two episodes, actually) where the Yorozuya went to the museum with a man, who would always talk about "hard-boil" stuff. She forgot his name, but Christine didn't care. He only appeared twice in the series, anyway.

Christine replied, "I see."

Keiko suddenly informed them, "You're getting close to the diamond room!"

"Huh? I thought you said we were 30 meters away," Sean said.

Keiko laughed awkwardly, "I misread. It said you were 10 meters away."

Sean, Christine, and Shinpachi rolled their eyes.

Eventually, Shinpachi saw what looked to be a metal bar cage. He blinked, and crawled over to the "cage". Shinpachi peered through it, and saw that it was the hallway.

Since Keiko mentioned that there were lasers in the diamond room, Shinpachi figured they would have to get out of the ceiling now.

He told the others, "It looks like we can get out now."

He opened up the "cage", but before he was going to get out, he poked his head out, and looked around, seeing if there were any cameras nearby. Shinpachi didn't see any; he sighed, and jumped out of the ceiling. The rest of the crew followed him once more, and when they left the inner ceiling, Gintoki asked as he wiped his hands on the latex suit, "Now what?"

Shinpachi asked Keiko through the earpiece, "Nasuro-san, how close are we to the diamond room?"

"You're right in front of the doors," Keiko heartily chuckled.

The boy widened his eyes, and he turned around, seeing the doors to the diamond room. Shinpachi furrowed a brow, but turned to his friends, and said, "Guess we can get the diamond now."

"Just remember that there're lasers, so we're going to have to be _very_ careful," Sean reminded him.

"I know, Shojaro-san. But, do you think there're security cameras in the room as well?"

"I doubt it. I've been to a few museums, and none of the rooms I've seen had any security cameras. Only the halls had them."

Shinpachi wasn't so sure on whether or not to believe him, but he grabbed the handle to the door, and slowly opened it. Shinpachi then entered the room, and motioned the others to follow his lead for the umpteenth time.

As soon as they went in the room, Shinpachi silently shut the door, and glanced around the room. Not surprisingly, there were red lasers surrounding the diamond, which was in the middle of the room. The diamond looked as big as a head, and it was silver.

Christine widened her eyes in amazement, and she said, "Wow, I didn't expect the diamond to be _this_ big."

Gintoki also widened his eyes, only he asked, "How much would it cost to sell it?"

Shinpachi scowled, "Gin-san, we're supposed to give the diamond to Nasuro-san! Besides, she's going to pay us 200,000 yen, so it'd be pointless to sell it!"

Keiko spoke up, "If you ever sold it, I would break every bone in your body!"

Shinpachi's lips tugged into a frown, and he decided to ask, "Who're you talking to?"

"The man who asked how much my diamond cost. Didn't I tell you that my diamond cost around a million yen?"

Everyone was silent.

Keiko sighed, "Anyway, you know what to do now."

"Right," Shinpachi murmured as he peered at the valuable item. He then moved his eyes to the lasers, and he chewed on his lower lip as if he was trying to come up with a plan to snatch the diamond from the tall "table". Wait a second, he _was_ thinking of a plan.

Shinpachi asked, "Are any of you guys flexible?"

"Huh?" The others stared at him.

The teenage boy clarified, "I mean, are any of you flexible enough to pass through the lasers?"

A ghost of a smile crept up Christine's features, and she raised her hand up, "I am!"

Shinpachi eyed the girl, and asked, "Are you sure you can get the diamond without touching the lasers?"

Christine nodded, "I'm flexible enough, so yes."

"Alright, then," Shinpachi slowly nodded.

Christine took a deep breath, and slowly stepped over the first laser. She then leaned back, going under a second laser. The girl managed to not touch any lasers so far, but without realizing it, she was _very_ close to one.

Sean gasped, and informed her, "Christiko, look out!"

"Eh?" She muttered, but when she noticed the laser right in front of her face, she yelped, and quickly leaned back again; this time, her palms touched the floor. She was lucky her hair was tucked into the latex suit; otherwise it would have made contact with one of the lasers, and the alarm would ring loudly.

Gintoki and Kagura rolled their eyes at the somewhat clumsy girl, but Shinpachi widened his eyes in astonishment. He turned to Sean, and inquired, "How is Christiko-san this flexible?"

Sean chuckled at Shinpachi's expression, but he explained, "A few years ago, Christiko and I frequently took yoga classes. She didn't want to go to them, but I forced her to. We took them for about two or three years."

Shinpachi was about to reply to the older man, but Christine announced, "I got the diamond!"

Gintoki and Kagura didn't look all that impressed, but Shinpachi and Sean clapped their hands, smiling.

Christine gave them a cheesy grin, and bowed as if there was an audience there, "Thank you, thank you."

She bowed a few times, but her forehead accidentally touched a random laser. The boys immediately stopped clapping, and they – plus Kagura and Gintoki – stared at the idiotic girl in utter shock.

When the alarm went off, Christine thought, _Oh, shit. I touched the laser, didn't I?_

She face-palmed herself, and Kagura shouted in anger, "Way to go, flat-chest!"

Christine held the diamond to her chest, and dashed towards the others as Sean opened the door. Sean yelled, "We need to get the heck out of here!"

"Gee, no shit, Sherlock!" Christine snapped, feeling really irritated by the alarm. Not only was it loud; it was also freaking annoying. Seriously, Christine felt like she was about to get a headache any second. Everyone else, though, didn't seem bothered by the sound of the alarm; still, they needed to get out of the museum, before they were caught.

**Outside of the museum…**

Keiko gasped the second the alarm went off. She clenched her teeth, and cursed under her breath, "Shit! The Yorozuya need to get out of there!"

She ordered, "Everyone! You have to get out of the museum!"

Without warning, Kagura screamed, "That's what we're trying to do, hooker!"

Keiko cried, "Ah! You don't need to be so loud! And I'm not a hooker!"

Sean said, "Nasuro-san, we're trying to get out of here, but we're surrounded by guards!"

Keiko paused, but the only thing she could say was, "Fuck!"

**Back inside…**

The group of five were surround by a dozen guards. Each guard held up a sword, and they glared at them as Christine mumbled, "What do we do now?!"

Gintoki scowled, "I don't know!"

Kagura snapped her cerulean eyes wide, and smirked evilly as she murmured, "I have a plan."

Shinpachi frowned at the look in Kagura's eyes. He didn't like it when she had that expression, because he knew she had come up with a ridiculous plan.

Kagura commanded, "Weirdo girl! Give the diamond to your grumpy brother!"

"Eh? Why?" Christine questioned in slight bafflement.

"You'll see!"

Christine hesitated for a moment before deciding to give the big diamond to her brother. As soon as Sean held it, Kagura almost immediately grabbed her wrists, and without warning, she began swinging her in circles. Sean, Gintoki, and Shinpachi ducked as Christine screamed her lungs out. Due to how loud she was, Keiko apparently took off her earpiece, because she hissed, "Why does everybody keep screaming?!"

Christine's feet smacked into multiple faces, and when Kagura didn't stop swinging her around, Christine hollered, "Kagura-chan, if you don't stop swinging me, I'm gonna puke!"

Kagura snorted, "You barely ate anything, weirdo girl! All you had today were crackers, uh-huh!"

"My stomach is still churning!" She informed the redheaded Yato.

When Kagura was sure all the guards were unconscious, she finally set Christine down. But the second her feet touched the floor, Christine lounged herself towards the younger girl. She cried out, "You pale-skinned jerk! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Shinpachi wrapped his arms around her waist, and he exclaimed, "Christiko-san, now's not the time to be fighting! We still have to get out of here, or else more guards will come!"

As Kagura taunted the emerald-eyed girl, Sean said, "Shinpachi-san's right! This is why I didn't want to go inside!"

Gintoki smacked the back of his hand on Sean's head. Sean yelped, "Hey! What was that for?!"

Gintoki replied while blankly staring at him, "I was right. You really are a sissy."

Now Sean wanted to beat the crap out of Gintoki. He knew violence wasn't the answer, but Sean _hated_ being called a sissy. Hell, he despised being called anything that was related to the word "weak". Adrenaline started pumping in his veins, and as much as he tried resisting, he couldn't. Without a second thought, he clenched his fist, and was about to swing it towards Gintoki, but the man noticed, and grabbed Sean's fist.

Gintoki lifted up his forefinger, and told him, "You have no reason to hit me."

"I'm not a freaking sissy!" Sean growled.

The silver-haired man rolled his dead-fished eyes, and let go of his clenched fist. Sean didn't punch him, though he grumbled some gibberish words.

Christine eventually calmed down, but she was still pissed at Kagura for almost making her throw up.

Sean gave Christine back the diamond, and they stormed through the hall.

After moments of running, they finally reached the entrance. Gintoki grasped the bronze handle, and violently opened it as he angrily growled, "That damn alarm is beginning to hurt my ears!"

Nobody replied; instead, they sprinted out of the museum, and caught sight of Keiko, who was running away from the building as well. It seemed that she had put away her laptop, because the handle to her bag was strapped onto her shoulder.

They ran next to the long-haired woman, and she asked, "Did you get my diamond?!"

Christine smirked, "We sure did!" She showed Keiko the expensive item, and Keiko smiled with relief.

"I'm so glad…" She breathed out, smiling. Christine gave her the diamond, and Keiko hugged it as if it were a baby.

Around ten minutes later, they arrived back at the Yorozuya house. Everyone panted in exhaustion, and Keiko announced, "You did well, Yorozuya. Here's your check."

"Finally!" Gintoki complained.

Keiko rolled her eyes, but handed him the check.

As Gintoki was practically drooling over the money, Keiko said, "Thank you for getting me my diamond back. Now I can try to hide it, where _nobody_ can find it." A chuckle escaped her lips, and she added, "I should get going now. Good-bye."

She turned around, but before she left, Christine asked as she pulled the "hood" down, "What about these suits?"

"You can throw those away," Keiko suggested. She exited out of the house, and closed the door behind her.

Silence filled the living room. Gintoki scratched his head, and was about to grab his regular clothes, but the front door opened.

The maid of Otose's snack bar entered, and she questioned Gintoki, "Gintoki-san, where's the rent money? Otose-san's getting impatient."

Otose, Catherine, and Tama found out about Christine and Sean a few days after they began "living" here. Shinpachi explained to them that they had nowhere to go. Otose decided to let them stay, as long as they didn't irritate her so much. She already had enough problems with the Yorozuya – but mostly Gintoki – so she didn't want any more people frustrating her. Then again, she would always get angry, so…you know what, never mind.

Anyway, Sean grabbed the envelope from Gintoki's hands, and sighed, "How much is for this months' rent?"

Tama told him the rent, and Sean pulled out some money. When Tama saw this, she raised a brow, "How did you get this much money?"

Sean gave the robot a cracked smile, and responded, "Let's just say we did a pretty complicated job."

The only expression he received was a somewhat blank look. Tama accepted the money, however, and left the house, heading back to the bar down below.

Gintoki yelled, infuriated, "You gave part of my money away!"

Sean rolled his eyes, "The rent needed to be paid."

"Tch." That was all Gintoki said. He snatched his clothes from the couch, and went into the bathroom to change.

* * *

**Sorry for the rushed ending. I was kind of in a hurry. ^^;**

**I'm letting you know that there will be more OC's in this story, but most of them will only appear once. The only main OC's in this are, of course, Christine and Sean.**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I have too many to list, when it comes to what shows I watch. XD**

**_Question of the update:_ What other anime's are your favorites?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 11! :)**


	12. Knives are sometimes better than swords

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Knives are sometimes better than swords**

Christine, Sean, and Shinpachi were heading to the weapons' store. Shinpachi lead the way, and said, "Now, since swords are illegal to use in Edo, you two are going to have to use something small, like a knife."

"Fair enough," Sean shrugged. "I wouldn't be very comfortable holding a sword, anyway."

After Gintoki got paid from the "diamond-stealing" job, Sean and Christine asked if he could pay them (Since they were pretty much broke). Not surprisingly, he didn't listen to them, because he was hogging over all the cash. The siblings were pissed, so they grabbed his hair, and punched him in the stomach a few times before Gintoki finally paid them. They also forced him to pay Kagura and Shinpachi as well, because they deserved at least _some_ money. After all, they were working, too.

Christine and Sean agreed to get some weapons the next day, now that they had enough money. Christine was actually anxious to get one, because in case any pervert would try to harass her, she wouldn't hesitate to use her weapon.

Christine placed her hands on the back of her head, and said, "I could try to handle a sword. I've never held one before, but I could still try."

Shinpachi shook his head as he looked at the girl from the corner of his eye, "You're not getting a sword. You'd get arrested, anyway."

"I know that," She mumbled.

They eventually arrived at the weapons' store, and when they entered it, the siblings looked around, seeing various weapons hanging on the walls. The weapons were supported by small, but thick, hooks. Sean blinked in mild surprise, and he thought, _I know this is a shop filled with weapons, but dang, there're so many swords._

There were other weapons, but Sean mostly saw swords. It didn't make much sense to him, because people weren't allowed to carry swords in Edo. But then again, the only people who were allowed to hold this kind of armor were the Shinsengumi, so maybe some of the Shinsengumi members came here occasionally.

Anyway, Shinpachi glanced around the shop, and muttered, "Is she on break?"

As if on cue, a woman with blue hair and dark eyes came out from the back, and when she noticed Shinpachi, plus two unfamiliar faces, she raised a brow, and asked with a small smile, "Hello, Shinpachi-san. What brings you here today?"

Shinpachi smiled back, "Hello, Tetsuko-san. I'm here to get a few weapons."

"Is it for those two?" She pointed at Sean and Christine, who were behind Shinpachi.

The teenage boy nodded, "Yes. These two are Christiko-san and Shojaro-san." The woman didn't ask for their names, but Shinpachi knew he had to introduce them.

Christine and Sean bowed as Christine greeted, "It's nice to meet you."

The blue-haired woman replied, "It's nice to meet you, too. My name is Murata Tetsuko." She ran her fingers through her hair, and added, "So, what kind of weapon would you two like?"

"Well, what weapons do you have?" Sean inquired.

Tetsuko walked around the shop, and showed them all kind of weapons. She didn't bother showing them the swords, because swords were very popular, so there was no need to explain what they were.

The first weapon Tetsuko showed was a mini-sword. Tetsuko explained, "This is the butterfly sword. It's from the south of China, but a friend of mine sent it to me."

"Interesting," Christine arched a brow, but didn't seem all that interested in the butterfly sword. Sean looked somewhat interested, though he didn't exactly understand why a Chinese weapon was here.

Tetsuko also showed them what looked to be a stick. Yeah…a stick.

Christine gawked at it, and asked, "Is that a stick?"

Tetsuko laughed, "It may look like a stick, but it's actually called a hanbo."

"A what?" The girl frowned in confusion.

Sean held his chin, "A hanbo, Christiko. I've heard about this weapon before. Apparently, it's mostly used for blocking attacks."

Christine peered at the stick-like weapon, and thought, _Maybe I should use this on Gintoki in case he doesn't bother paying us again._

She imagined herself holding the hanbo, and hitting it on Gintoki. Christine scratched her chin; then decided, _Nah, let's not get it. I don't want to break Gintoki's bones._

A few minutes passed. Tetsuko had shown them the majority of the weapons, and so far, the Wardenhall siblings hadn't decided which weapons to get. Some looked amazing, but they were too heavy to carry. Others were light, but they looked too ugly.

Tetsuko held up two knife-like items, and she told them, "These are tanto's. Some people have told me that these are more useful than regular swords, because they're smaller, and they're a bit easier to handle."

"I can kind of see why," Sean snorted in amusement.

Christine eyed the tanto's (Which were in black cases), and widened her eyes as her lips parted. She suggested, "Can I hold one?"

"Of course you can," Tetsuko answered, handing the girl one of the tanto's.

As soon as Christine grabbed hold of the small weapon, she pulled the sheath off, and saw the shiny blade. The handle of the blade was also jet-black, only it was made of leather (That's what Christine thought, anyway).

Sean stared at the weapon, and decided, "May I hold the other one?"

Tetsuko nodded, and gave the second one to Sean. Sean also unsheathed the tanto, but as he glanced at it, he thought, _Wow. This looks very sharp._

Both Christine and Sean coincidentally smiled, and they said at the exact same time, "I'll take it." The siblings gawked at each other, and they added, "Don't copy me."

They frowned, but Tetsuko chuckled, "Are you two related?"

"Yes," The siblings responded at the same time again.

Christine glared daggers at her older brother, and without alarming him, she punched him in the arm. Sean flinched, and scowled, "You didn't need to hit me!"

"Stop copying me, then!" Christine snarled as she put the tanto back in the sheath.

Tetsuko crossed her arms, and grinned, "You two really are related."

Sean rolled his green eyes, "We don't usually say stuff at the same time, though."

Christine blurted out as she held the weapon up, "I'll buy this! How much does this cost?"

Sean questioned without moving his eyes from the tanto, "Yes, how much _do_ these cost?"

The woman tapped her chin, trying to remember the cost of the tanto's. She furrowed a brow, and responded, "I believe each tanto costs about 2,500 yen."

Both siblings nodded, and they took out some money from their pockets. Christine was the first person to pay Tetsuko, and as Tetsuko accepted the money, she informed them, "If you're going to use this, make sure you don't injure yourself."

Sean assured, "I'll be careful with this." He turned to his sister, and told her, "Christiko, this is not a toy; this is a somewhat dangerous weapon. Be _very_ careful while you're using your tanto."

Christine gave him a what-the-fuck look, and she yelled, "Bro, I'm not five anymore! Don't treat me like a little brat!"

"But you _are_ a brat."

She spat, "I am not!"

He folded his arms, "You sometimes pull pranks on me, plus you annoy the heck out of me. That's the _description_ of a brat. Heck, I'm kind of surprised you haven't pulled any pranks on me since we came to Edo."

Sean smirked, but Christine rolled her eyes, "That's because I don't have any ideas for pulling pranks on you…yet."

She turned around, and smirked a bit evilly as she thought, _I'll pull a prank on you sometime, Sean. I haven't done that for a while now._

Christine faced Tetsuko, and smiled, "Thank you."

The woman nodded, smiling as well. Sean also handed Tetsuko the money, and she said, "Have a good day."

"Thank you," Sean responded as he, Christine, and Shinpachi headed out of the shop.

As soon as they left, Christine stared at her new weapon as if it was the most amazing thing ever. No, scratch that, it _was_ the most amazing thing Christine had ever seen. She was holding a Japanese weapon for the very first time. God, this was probably the best day of her life! Christine couldn't remember the last time she had been this happy. Sure, she was always cheerful, but she didn't think she'd ever been _this_ blissful.

Shinpachi suddenly saw his sister, who was carrying her naginata. When Tae noticed the trio – and the weapons Christine and Sean were holding – she asked her younger brother, "Hello, Shin-chan. Did Christiko-san and Shojaro-san get their weapons already?"

Shinpachi answered as he scratched the back of his head, "Yes. They got tanto's."

"Is that so?"

Christine revealed her sheathed tanto, and exclaimed, "Yep! Now I don't have to worry about creeps harassing me!"

"Uh, you're still going to have to be cautious," Shinpachi pointed out.

Instead of replying to the teenage boy, Christine rubbed the case against her cheek. The case wasn't made of leather, like the tanto, but she still liked how the case felt.

Sean sighed, and decided to ask the older Shimura, "Anyway, what're you up to?"

Tae peered at her weapon, and answered, "I'm heading over to the weapons' shop. The 'blade' in my naginata is a bit chipped, so I want to get it sharpened."

"I see." Sean peered at her naginata, and saw that it was slightly chipped. It didn't look too serious, though it was probably best to sharpen it. Who would fight their opponent with a somewhat damaged spear, anyway? Nobody, that's who.

Tae closed her eyes, and smiled at the trio, "Well, I need to get going. See you later."

"See ya!" Christine replied, trying to sound like a gangster.

Sean chuckled in a low tone, "You're really bad at trying to sound gangsta."

"Shut up," Christine grumbled.

Shinpachi rolled his eyes, and politely commanded as Tae left them, "Come on, you two. We need to get back, so that you can practice using your new weapons."

Christine cocked a brow up, and retorted, "But Shinpachi-san, I don't _need_ to practice. This is a knife, not a sword."

Shinpachi frowned; he didn't really like that attitude. Christine just said that as if Shinpachi was stupid. Of course, Shinpachi wasn't stupid at all. In fact, he was at least a little more intelligent than Gintoki or Kagura.

The boy replied in a serious tone, "I _know_ that. Don't act like I'm an idiot."

"Eh? I wasn't treating you like one."

Shinpachi face-palmed himself, "Look, Christiko-san, you may be my friend, but I'm not going to be easy on you if you don't practice using your tanto."

Now it was Christine's turn to frown. Her lips tugged down as her brow furrowed. She didn't know what was on Shinpachi's mind, but she had a bad feeling that he would threaten her…or something like that.

Shinpachi didn't threaten her, though he gave her a glare, and warned, "If you slack off, I'm going to take your tanto away."

Christine's mouth agape, and she exclaimed, "Whoa, whoa, Shinpachi-san! I _paid_ for this! This cost about, what, 5,000 yen?!"

"2,500 yen, actually," Sean corrected her.

Christine scowled as she swiftly turned her head around, "I didn't ask _you_, grumpy!"

Sean glowered at the light-brown haired girl, and snapped, "And I didn't ask you to cause an attitude towards me!"

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"I AM NOT!"

"Both of you stop!" Shinpachi snarled.

Sean and Christine flinched, and then glanced at the angry teenager.

Sweat tricked down Christine's cheek, and when she noticed that he was about to snap, she gave him a cracked smile, and decided, "Alright, alright, Shinpachi-san. I'll practice."

"You promise?" Shinpachi gave the girl a skeptical look, which caused her to frown yet again.

Christine sighed, "Yes, I promise. Now will you please calm down?"

"I'll calm down eventually; right now, I want to be alone."

The boy sighed as well, only it was a tad bit quieter than Christine's. Shinpachi walked away from the siblings, and Christine and Sean looked at each other, as if one of them expected the other to speak. Neither of them exchanged words, yet Christine gave her brother a look that apparently said, 'Let's head back to Gintoki's'.

Sean nodded, and the two of them started to head back to the Yorozuya house.

**Meanwhile…**

Shimura Shinpachi noticed that Christine and Sean walked in the opposite direction. He let out a barely audible sigh, and muttered under his breath, "Perhaps I shouldn't have been so hard on Christiko-san. She _did_ pay for her tanto, after all."

He didn't really mean to "threaten" Christine like that, but he was frustrated. Shinpachi wanted her and Sean to practice their new tanto's, and if Christine didn't train herself; she'd have a difficult time fighting her opponents/enemies without injuring, let alone cutting, herself. Yes, the tanto wasn't that big, but it had a _sharp_ blade.

Shinpachi was more worried about Christine than Sean, because he knew Sean would try out his somewhat long knife. After all, Sean was more polite and serious than Christine was; Christine was just a complete brat, who would annoy her brother constantly. And when she assured Shinpachi that she didn't need to be trained, he was convinced that Christine couldn't take good care of herself.

This was ridiculous. Christine was 16, not six! She was the same age as Shinpachi, yet he was more mature than her! Though Shinpachi considered her as a friend, he wanted her to act like a _teenager_, not some little brat, who could cry for a chocolate chip cookie.

The teenager laced his fingers through his hair, and he resumed his walk.

A few minutes passed, and when he finally calmed down, he decided to head back. But just then, he heard a familiar voice.

"Shinpachi-san."

Shinpachi turned around, and saw a girl with black hair, and brown eyes. Her left eye was covered with an eye-patch.

Shinpachi replied, "Kyubei-san."

Yagyu Kyubei gave him a somewhat bland expression, and informed him, "I was looking for you."

"Really?" He slightly widened his eyes in bewilderment. Why was Kyubei looking for him? Was it important? It had to be important. Kyubei couldn't have looked for him for no reason.

Kyubei barely nodded, "Yes. I wanted to find you, because I wanted to give you something."

"What is it?"

The girl put a hand in her coat pocket, and then pulled out what looked to be five small pieces of paper. Shinpachi lifted a brow, and asked, "Are those tickets?"

Oh, so they weren't just pieces of paper, after all!

Kyubei answered as she handed the tickets to Shinpachi, "They're tickets to the zoo. Ayumu somehow got these tickets, and he wanted me to go, but I refused."

"Are you not a fan of zoos?"

She shrugged, "I don't hate them; I'm just not interested in going to the zoo."

Shinpachi stared at the tickets in his hands, and he smiled, "Thank you, Kyubei-san."

"You're welcome," She replied, but didn't smile as well. "Since there're five tickets, you can invite two more people, other than Gintoki-san and Kagura-chan."

Before Shinpachi could reply, Kyubei walked away. She added without glancing at the boy, "I'll see you later."

Shinpachi peered at the tickets once again, but thought as his smile grew bigger, _At least I can also invite Christiko-san and Shojaro-san. I'm sure they'll want to go to the zoo as well._

Shinpachi thought it was a coincidence, because Kyubei had _five_ tickets to the zoo. And since Christine and Sean were staying at the Yorozuya house, Shinpachi was definitely going to invite them (And not to mention that he was also going to bring Gintoki and Kagura). They needed to have some fun, anyway.

Another couple of minutes passed before Shinpachi returned to Gintoki's house. He saw Sean practicing his moves with his tanto. Shinpachi smiled, and questioned, "Are you training yourself, Shojaro-san?"

"Of course," Sean responded as he swiftly moved his "armor". "I've never had a weapon like this, so I _have_ to train myself."

Shinpachi nodded; he asked, "Where's Christiko-san, though?"

"She's in the kitchen."

"Is she making lunch?"

"She didn't want to at first, but I forced her to."

"What is she making, then?"

"Tuna sandwiches."

"We have tuna?" Shinpachi quirked a brow.

Sean gave the boy a quick glance before replying, "Yeah. I didn't know that either until I saw two cans of tuna in the back of the fridge."

Shinpachi decided to go into the kitchen, but when he entered it, he saw Christine cutting some lettuce. He didn't exactly see the knife in Christine's hand, because her back was facing him.

He spoke up, "Would you like some help, Christiko-san?"

Christine turned, and responded, "I'm good. Thanks, anyway."

Shinpachi realized that Christine was using her _tanto_ to cut the lettuce. Shinpachi's jaw dropped in shock; Christine arched a brow, and asked, "What?"

"Why're you using your tanto instead of a regular kitchen knife?!"

She shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, "I didn't bother looking for one."

Shinpachi slapped his forehead with his hand, "They're in the freaking drawer! Are you just as lazy as Gin-san?!"

The girl averted her gaze away from him, but murmured, making sure he heard her, "Perhaps, but I don't care."

He rolled his eyes, and told her, "Use an actual kitchen knife next time."

When Shinpachi didn't look, Christine stuck her tongue out. Though Shinpachi was one of Christine's favorite characters, she didn't like him being so bossy. He wasn't as bossy as Sean, but Christine liked to do things her way.

Shinpachi just remember about the tickets Kyubei gave him; he pulled them out of his pants' pocket, and informed Christine and Sean, "I almost forgot. A friend of ours' gave me five tickets to the Edo zoo."

Christine stopped suddenly, and accidentally exclaimed, "The zoo?!"

Shinpachi flinched, but responded, "Yes, the zoo. Do you like zoos?"

She dropped her tanto on the kitchen counter, and cheered, "I don't _like_ them; I _love_ them!"

He didn't expect her to be _this_ excited, but at least Christine liked the idea of going to the zoo. Zoos were fun, after all, unless it was either too crowded, or too smelly.

Sean overheard him, and shifted a brown brow up as he curiously asked the younger man, "Who gave you the tickets?"

"You haven't met her yet," Shinpachi replied a matter-of-factly. "But her name is Yagyu Kyubei."

"Yagyu Kyubei…" Sean repeated the name. "That's a unique name."

Shinpachi ignored the man, and asked off-topically, "By the way, where are Gin-san and Kagura-chan?"

Christine went back to chopping the lettuce, but she informed the taller teenager, "They told me and Shojaro that they were going to sneak into the movies."

Shinpachi frowned, "Why? Don't they have enough money?"

She clarified, "Actually, Kagura-chan's the only one sneaking in. Gintoki-san, on the other hand, is paying to watch the movies."

The boy sighed, "Kagura-chan shouldn't do that. Did she spend all her money on sukonbu again?"

Sean peered at Shinpachi from the corner of his eye, "She and Gintoki-san are actually going to see an _adult_ movie." Obviously, he wasn't referring to a porn film. Pornography wasn't allowed in movie theaters, anyway.

Shinpachi's frown deepened, "Kagura-chan's only 14! Why would she want to see an adult movie?! And why didn't you stop her, Shojaro-san?!"

"I tried stopping her," Sean admitted, "but she wouldn't listen."

Shinpachi rubbed the bridge of his nose, but mumbled, "Darn it, Kagura-chan."

Christine entered the living room, holding three plates of tuna-fish sandwiches. She handed one to Sean and Shinpachi; then sat down in the couch, and started eating her own sandwich.

Christine assured with her mouth half-full, "No need to worry, Shinpachi-san. I'm sure Kagura-chan will be just fine."

Not surprisingly, he didn't believe her. He didn't think Kagura would be fine.

But a sigh parted his lips, and he took a bite of his tuna sandwich.

* * *

**So now Sean and Christine got their weapons. Yay!**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I also love "Ikoku Meiro no Croisée", "Mushishi", "Inferno Cop", etc. XD**

**_Question of the update:_ For anime, what genres do you dislike/hate?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 12! :)**


	13. The first thing you should do when

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: Of course it counts as a review. XD**

* * *

**Chapter 13: The first thing you should do when entering a zoo is not feed the animals**

**The next day, at Edo zoo…**

The Yorozuya, Sean, and Christine arrived at the zoo. Christine had the most excitement, out of the entire group. Shinpachi also told Gintoki and Kagura about the tickets he was given by Kyubei. Gintoki and Kagura couldn't remember the last time they had ever been to a zoo, so they decided to go.

As soon as they gave their tickets to the ticket booth, Christine dashed into zoo, and cheered, "Yippie!"

Sean rolled his eyes, but chuckled, and told the others, "She's a huge fan of zoos."

"Not surprised," Gintoki murmured as he picked his nose.

Sean noticed Gintoki's action, and scrunched up his face in disgust as he asked, "Why do you _always_ pick your nose?"

The silver-haired man arched a brow up, and responded while still having his pinkie in his nostril, "I got a lot of boogers in there; I need to get them out."

"You can always blow your nose," Sean pointed out, still having a disgusted expression.

Gintoki decided to ignore him, and he questioned, "Is there cotton candy? I'd like some."

Shinpachi frowned, "Gin-san, I'm fairly certain cotton candy comes from carnivals."

"There can still be cotton candy." Gintoki glanced in another direction.

Shinpachi sighed, and changed the topic, "Anyway, which animal should we see first?"

"How about the bears?" Christine suggested as she started to skip.

The teenage boy nodded, "Bears, it is."

The group headed for the bears' section. While they were on their way, they saw a man wearing a bear costume. At first, the man looked unfamiliar to them; when they got closer to him, however, they were able to recognize him.

Gintoki gave the man a bored look, and asked, "Oi, Zura. What're you doing here at the zoo?"

Katsura Kotaro peered at the Yorozuya and siblings, and corrected the samurai, "It's not Zura, it's Katsura. And I'm here, because I want to have some fun."

"I thought criminals weren't big fans of fun," Christine snorted in amusement.

Kotaro glared at the girl, but replied calmly, "I _can_ have fun, miss. And I'm not exactly a criminal."

Gintoki blurted out, "Zura, you're definitely a criminal. If you weren't, those Shinsengumi bastards wouldn't be chasing after you."

Sean stared at Kotaro in confusion, "Wait, are you really a wanted criminal?"

Before he got a chance to answer, Christine informed her brother, "He is. Shinpachi-san and I saw him over a week ago, and one of the Shinsengumi members started chasing after him." Even if Christine didn't know who Katsura Kotaro was, she'd still know that he was a wanted person, because why would the Shinsengumi chase after him if he wasn't a "bad" man? That wouldn't make much sense.

Anyway, Kotaro heaved a sigh, "Yes, I am a wanted man, but I'm not a very bad person. The reason why the Shinsengumi chase after me is because I carry a lot of illegal weapons."

Sean furrowed a brow, "Illegal weapons? Are my ears deaf?"

"Nope, you heard him loud and clear," Gintoki stated as he finally stopped picking his nostril.

"Gee, thanks, Gintoki-san," Sean muttered sarcastically as he glared at Gintoki.

Kotaro turned around, and said, "Anyway, I have to get going. I have a birthday party to intend."

"Eh?" Everyone muttered as Kotaro stormed away. Everybody looked at each other as awkwardness filled the air. It wasn't that weird for Kotaro to be heading over to a little brat's birthday party, but the Yorozuya thought he wasn't into stuff like that. Apparently, Kotaro was so bored; he decided to be the clown- er, bear of a freaking party. But was Kotaro even bored to begin with? No, no, that couldn't be it. Kotaro was _never_ bored. Boredom wasn't very healthy, anyway.

Christine chimed in, "Let's get moving!"

Nobody said anything, but when Christine started skipping again, everyone followed the girl.

Not long later, they arrived at the bears' section. Inside the section were big rocks, two trees, and – of course – three black/brown bears. One of the bears, which was black, went over to the tree, and "stood up" before scratching its back on the tree bark.

Kagura shifted a red brow up, and asked, "Gin-chan, do bears usually scratch their backs on trees?"

Gintoki responded as he gazed at the bear, "Actually, Kagura, they also hug the trees, because trees are the only living creatures that give bears love."

Christine gawked at him, and exclaimed, "No, Gintoki-san! That's all wrong!" She faced the redheaded Yato, and informed, "Kagura-chan, bears _do_ usually scratch their backs on trees, but after they're done, they take a dump, because it marks their territory."

Shinpachi yelled, "You and Gin-san are _both_ wrong!"

"There's no need to yell, Shin-chan," A feminine voice came from behind the group.

They all turned around, only to see Shimura Tae. She gave them her usual smile as she walked to the bears' section as well.

As soon as she was in front of the rail, she asked, "You came to the zoo, too?"

Shinpachi responded, "Well, Kyubei-san bumped into me yesterday, and gave me five tickets to here, so yes."

"Oh, she gave you tickets as well?"

"Wait, what do you mean 'as well?" Christine questioned.

"Kyu-chan gave me a ticket yesterday. I asked if she wanted to go, and she politely said no. It's kind of a shame, to be honest. I wanted Kyu-chan to have some fun." Tae shrugged her shoulders as she glanced at the bears.

Gintoki spotted a bee close by, so he said in a dull tone, "Oi, a bee's coming by."

Christine's emerald eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear. She yelled, "Where?!"

"Right behind you."

Without warning, Christine gave out an ear-splitting scream. She sprinted away from the buzzing bee, and jumped inside a trash can without a second thought. She was lucky that the trash can was empty, but even then, people were staring at her as if she was completely retarded. Though, perhaps Christine _was_ retarded.

No. Christine wouldn't have jumped into the garbage can if that stupid bee didn't fly behind her.

Shinpachi stepped towards the frightened girl. Christine's body was only halfway in, because she was apparently too big to fit inside the can.

The moment Shinpachi was behind her, he grabbed the back of Christine's green kimono, and pulled her out of the garbage. Christine, however, gripped the ring of the can, and screamed, "No! I don't want to be near that bee!"

Shinpachi frowned, and informed her as Christine practically dragged the can, "Christiko-san, the bee is gone, so please let go of that garbage can."

"Never!"

He rubbed his eyes under his glasses in frustration. Why couldn't Christine just let go already?! Did she want to bring that garbage tin as a souvenir?! Because if so, this was the _biggest_ souvenir she had ever gotten!

Gintoki walked beside the girl, and without a word, he grabbed a handful of her hair, and yanked her from the gray-colored tin.

Christine snapped her eyes wide again, only this time, she growled, "Let go of my hair!"

"Let go of the trash can, first," Gintoki commanded, but sounded like he didn't give a crap.

"But I like this trash can! It's so shiny!" Christine lied. The reason why she was lying was because she wanted Gintoki to let go. She hated it when people grabbed her hair, _especially_ when they yanked it.

Obviously, her lie didn't get through Gintoki. He rolled his eyes, and replied as he tried forcing the girl to let go of the can, "If you don't let go, I won't let go of your hair. Do you want your hair to be ripped off?"

Christine gasped in shock, "You wouldn't _dare_ rip my hair off, would you?!"

If Gintoki were to rip Christine's somewhat long hair off of her scalp, she would probably scream her lungs out, and beat the crap out of him. She _loved_ her hair! She wasn't going to have a bald head; Christine would _hate_ that! If she went bald, people would point and laugh at her!

Gintoki responded as he yanked her once more, "I don't want to, but I won't have a choice if you don't release the trash can."

Without any other option, Christine let go of the metal tin. The tin fell on the ground as Gintoki released her hair. But in a split second, Christine jumped on Gintoki's chest, and practically pushed him to the rough ground. A grunt escaped Gintoki's lips, and he tried to sit up, but the infuriated teenager began to slap his cheeks. Her slaps were so hard; Gintoki's cheeks stung badly.

The silver-haired man shouted, "Oi, brat! Stop slapping my cheeks!"

"You shouldn't have yanked my hair, you asshole!" Christine snarled.

More people gawked at her, and they whispered questions like, 'Why is she slapping that man?' and 'Is she out of her mind?'.

Perhaps Christine was out of her mind, but she was slapping Gintoki for a reason.

Kagura gripped her hand onto the collar of her kimono, and violently pulled her back as she hollered, "That's _my_ job, flat-chest!"

Without a second thought, she threw Christine back, and within seconds, the emerald-eyed female landed into the gorilla section. When Shinpachi and Sean saw this, their jaws dropped in utter shock.

Sean stormed towards the Yato, and growled, "**Kagura-chan!**"

Kagura raised a red brow at the man, and questioned as if she didn't know what just happened, "What's your problem, grumpy?"

"**You just threw my sister into the gorilla section!**"

She widened her cerulean eyes, but didn't look all that surprised. Kagura smirked as she crossed her arms, "She deserved it."

"How?!" Sean barked.

Kagura shrugged, "She was taking over my job."

"How is slapping Gintoki-san's cheeks even a job?!"

A vein throbbed in Kagura's cheek, and she was about to punch Sean in the face, but Shinpachi screamed, "Christiko-san!"

They turned to Shinpachi, who was by the gorilla section. Sweat formed on Shinpachi's face as Christine gawked at the gorillas. There were four gorillas, and although they weren't huge, Christine was terrified of what they were going to do to her.

Shinpachi thought while panicking, _This is bad! This is VERY bad! How are we going to get Christiko-san out of there?!_

Gintoki walked beside Shinpachi, and said, acting like there wasn't a problem, "Oh, would you look at that? Christiko's going to be part of the gorilla family now."

Shinpachi yelled, "Those gorillas are going to beat her!"

Gintoki picked his nose _again_, and replied, "No they won't. They're too small to beat a brat like her."

"Don't you know _anything_ about gorillas?!"

Shinpachi turned back to Christine, who had a terrified expression. Two of the not-so-huge gorillas started playing with her hair, and Christine gave them a cracked smile as she murmured, "Um, I don't have any lice…"

Shinpachi tried thinking of a way to get the girl out of there, but all of a sudden, a man wearing nothing but a fundoshi came into view. He stood on a tree branch, and yelled, "Don't worry, miss! I'll get you out of there!"

The Yorozuya trio saw the man; when they found out who it was, they pointed at him, and laughed their asses off. Almost everybody else did the same thing. Point and laugh like there would be no tomorrow. Sean and Shinpachi were the only people not laughing. Instead, they gawked at the half-naked man.

Shinpachi shouted, "Kondo-san, what're you doing in there?! And why're you only in your underwear?!"

Kondo Isao grabbed the vine that was connected to the tree, and shouted back, "I'm going to rescue that girl! And I'm only in my underwear, because the gorillas will think I'm one of them!"

"Huh?!" Sean yowled. "That doesn't make _any_ sense!"

Isao ignored the confused man, and gripped the vine as he exclaimed, "Here I come!" Without sparing another second, he swung down, and yelled, trying to sound like Tarzan.

When he was close enough to Christine, he reached his right arm out, and wrapped it around her waist before pulling her away from the gorillas.

As they were swinging across the gorilla section, Isao asked the startled girl, "Are you alright?"

Christine scoffed, "Kagura-chan threw me into the gorilla area; then those animals messed up my hair. So no, I am _not_ alright!"

Isao laughed, "Your hair's fine, though it's not as beautiful as Otae-chan's~!"

Christine rolled her eyes, and mumbled, "Oh, brother." She then saw a huge boulder in front of them. Isao apparently didn't see the boulder, because he was blabbering about his so-called lover, Tae. The corners of her lips tugged down, and she warned the chief, "Uh, dude, you're about to hit a freaking _boulder_."

Isao paid no mind to the girl, but his body _slammed_ into the boulder. Christine hit the boulder as well, only she hit it hands-first.

Christine realized that the boulder was about a foot away from the rail, so she pushed Isao's arm away, and grabbed the rail before the now-unconscious man fell off of the huge rock. Isao landed on the grass, and the gorillas headed towards him.

A snicker escaped Christine's lips, and she muttered, "Thanks for rescuing me, gorilla."

Shinpachi, Kagura, and Sean dashed towards the uninjured girl, and Shinpachi exclaimed, obviously sounding worried, "Christiko-san! Are you alright?!"

Christine practically had to repeat what she said to Isao, "Actually, I'm not alright, because Kagura-chan threw me into the gorilla area."

Kagura replied as she rolled her sapphire eyes, "You shouldn't have taken over my job, then, uh-huh."

Gintoki stepped behind them, and rubbed his cheek as he told Christine, "_Never_ slap me _that_ hard again."

She rolled her eyes, and the only thing she said was, "Whatever."

Sean glanced at Isao, and realized, "Wait, isn't that man the chief of the Shinsengumi, and Tae-san's stalker?"

Shinpachi sighed, "Yep. I have a feeling he only came here, because he somehow found out that sis came to the zoo as well."

"Do the other Shinsengumi members even know he's here?"

"I…don't know," Shinpachi furrowed a brow.

**Meanwhile, at the Shinsengumi Headquarters…**

Hijikata Toshiro wandered in the halls, looking for the chief. For some reason, he was nowhere to be found. Toshiro arched a black brow, and grumbled, "Where the hell is he? His meeting starts in an hour." Apparently, Isao thought going to the zoo to see Tae was more important than getting prepared for a meeting.

Toshiro laced his fingers through his hair, and cursed under his breath as he clenched his teeth onto his cancer stick.

Suddenly, he heard Okita Sougo's voice down the hall.

"Hijikata-san," Sougo began blandly. "Kondo-san left us a note."

"A note?" Toshiro repeated as he pulled his cigarette from his lips.

Sougo walked in front of the Vice-commander, and he handed him the note. Toshiro unfolded the small piece of paper, and read the note in thought, _"Toshi, Sougo, I went to the zoo to meet up with somebody. Don't worry, I'll return before my meeting starts. From, Kondo Isao."_

Toshiro rubbed the bridge of his nose, and murmured in realization, "He's going to stalk Shimura Tae again." Though he didn't really know that Tae was at the zoo, there wasn't any other reason for Isao to go there, unless he was having his day off.

**Back at Edo zoo…**

Isao was eventually taken out of the gorilla section. He finally woke up after being unconscious for about a half an hour, but he was forced to leave the zoo, because he arrived without wearing any clothes, other than his underwear.

The Yorozuya, Sean, and Christine decided to forget that the gorilla incident even happened.

The group of five headed to another section. They saw the sign, and found out that this was the jaguars' area. The section had three jaguars; all the jaguars were lying on the rocks, sleeping.

Kagura pouted, "Aw, those stupid jaguars are sleeping! I wanted to see them fight with each other, uh-huh!"

The corner of Sean's lips tugged down, and he said, "Kagura-chan, even jaguars need sleep."

One of the jaguars yawned, and it stretched its arms before opening its eyes. But when it saw the Yorozuya, and the Wardenhall siblings, it stared at them as if it was hunting its prey.

The group stared back at the animal, only they were baffled on why the jaguar was looking at them. Kagura asked Gintoki, "Gin-chan, how come that animal is staring at you?"

Gintoki snorted, "It's not staring at me. It's staring at weirdo girl."

Christine gave him an "are-you-out-of-your-freaking-mind" look, and laughed, "Oh, _hell_ no! It's definitely staring at Shinpachi-san!"

"What?!" Shinpachi exclaimed. "No, no! It's staring at Shojaro-san!"

Everyone kept on arguing about who exactly the jaguar was staring at. While they were apparently distracted, the jaguar walked towards a tall rock, and jumped on it. The jaguar then jumped on another rock.

The animal stopped jumping when it was on top of the tallest rock. Jaguars weren't supposed to jump there – since the top was about ten feet up – but apparently, this jaguar had the strongest legs ever.

Kagura spotted the jaguar out of the corner of her eye, and asked as she pointed at the wild animal, "Is that animal supposed to be on top of that rock?"

Almost immediately, everyone stopped arguing, and they peered at the jaguar on the boulder. Everybody except Gintoki frowned, and Sean responded, "I don't think so. That boulder's next to…the rail." He slowed down his sentence when he realized that the tallest boulder was _right next_ to the rail. His emerald orbs widened in fear, and he yelled, "D-Don't t-tell me that j-jaguar's going to go over th-the rail!"

Gintoki assured as he waved his hand up and down, "That's impossible. Jaguars may be violent, but they're not smart enough to go over the rail."

"Um, I hate to burst your bubble," Christine spoke up, "but the jaguar just escaped!"

"WHAT?!" Everybody, _including_ Gintoki, shouted at the same time.

The jaguar jumped out of the section, and the visitors immediately screamed, "The jaguar's out!"

"Run!" Shinpachi suggested as he started running for his life. He wasn't a scaredy-cat; in fact, he was _far_ from it. He just didn't want to deal with a live animal. Sure, Shinpachi could handle fighting with his enemies, but jaguars were a _completely_ different story.

They all ran away, while one of the zoo employees' grabbed his radio, and shouted, "Boss! One of the jaguars escaped from the jaguar area!"

Visitors were storming out of the zoo, and the Yorozuya, Sean, and Christine were about to leave, but they noticed that people were shoving each other at the entrance.

Gintoki cursed under his breath, "Shit!" He turned to his friends – though Christine and Sean were more like his acquaintances – and suggested, "We're going to have to find another way out!"

Sean nodded in agreement, and thought as the group dashed away from the crowded entrance, _At least we won't have to try to go through that crowd. I hate crowded places._

For once, Sean thought Gintoki was useful. Ever since he first met him, he thought he was just a silver-headed idiot. But Sean was proven wrong. Gintoki wasn't _only_ an idiot.

The group continued to run, but when Christine looked back, she saw that the jaguar was chasing after them.

She shrieked, "Fuck! It's chasing after us!"

"Aaaahhh!" Sean screamed without a second thought. He sprinted faster, and screeched, "I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

Shockingly, he was running faster than the Yorozuya and Christine. Shinpachi widened his eyes in surprise, and asked the light-brown haired girl, "How is he running that fast?"

Christine shrugged, "Shojaro only likes to eat healthy food; that might be the reason why he's running faster than the rest of us."

Gintoki heard what she said, and frowned, "Seriously? Your grumpy brother doesn't eat sweets, like me?"

"Nope," Christine answered.

Before they knew it, they ran into a wall. Gintoki and Christine accidentally bumped into it, but Sean, Shinpachi, and Kagura managed to halt themselves before their bodies could hit the wall as well.

Christine and Gintoki rubbed their heads, and Shinpachi asked, "Are you two okay?"

"I'm fine," She mumbled.

They heard a roar, which was _very_ close to them. They all gasped loudly, and though they didn't want to turn around, they did, anyway.

All of them glanced at the jaguar, and it roared again, only it was quieter. Christine quickly pulled out her tanto from her sash, and exclaimed, "S-Stay back, jaguar! You won't want me to use this!"

The jaguar glared (Or was it just staring? Christine couldn't really tell) at the five people, and somehow, it spoke like a real person, "Please don't harm me. I just need your help."

Whoa, whoa, _whoa_! How the _fuck_ did that jaguar even speak?! Animals couldn't speak! How did this one talk?! This made _zero_ sense!

Everybody's jaws dropped, and Gintoki pointed at the zoo animal as he shouted, "H-H-How are you t-talking?!"

The jaguar narrowed its eyes, and responded, "If you listen to me, I'll explain."

Christine made a cracked smile, and decided to say, "H-He or she is r-right. W-We need to listen to it."

The spotted animal frowned (Or at least, it _tried_ to frown), and it corrected the girl, "I'm actually a _female_ jaguar. Did you not hear my feminine voice?"

"Um…no?" Christine frowned back.

The jaguar rolled her eyes, and replied, "Whatever, that doesn't matter. What _does_ matter, though, is _you_ five getting me out of here."

"Wait, are we _really_ going to help a _jaguar_ get out of the zoo?" Sean asked, sounding bamboozled.

The jaguar sighed, "Yes. Now I know you're confused, but _please_ let me explain what I've been through."

Everyone was hesitant at first, but eventually, they slowly nodded their heads, allowing the jaguar to explain why she wanted them to get her out of here.

**In the streets of Edo…**

The Shinsengumi officers dashed into their police cars; seconds later, they started their cars, and began driving off. They got a call from one of the people that worked at the zoo, and since it was serious, the Shinsengumi wasted no time getting out of the Headquarters.

Hijikata Toshiro, Okita Sougo, and Yamazaki Sagaru got in a car, and Toshiro drove away from the Shinsengumi Headquarters.

Sagaru, who was in the back seat, furrowed his brows, and questioned, "Vice-chief, do you think this jaguar will escape the zoo?"

Without glancing at the spy, Toshiro answered with a hint of irritation in his tone, "I _hope_ not."

He ran his fingers through his black hair, and gave out a sigh as he drove faster.

* * *

**Special thanks to NightinGem for the "gorilla exhibit" idea. Honestly, if you hadn't mentioned that, I probably wouldn't have added the gorilla part (It'd probably slip my mind. :P). ;)**

**Anyway, this is the start of the "Jaguar Arc"! And don't worry, I'll try my best to explain why and how the jaguar can talk. LOL**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I dislike ecchi, harems, and most sports (Though there might be a few exceptions).**

**_Question of the update:_ What's your favorite season?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 13! :)**


	14. Jaguars, cubs, and humans, oh my!

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: Oops. I must've completely forgotten that Yamazaki was always forced to drive. Sorry about that. ^^;**

**Guest: Well, since it's for humor, alright. I'll use that idea, but I won't use it for quite a while.**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Jaguars, cubs, and humans, oh my!**

Less than five minutes later, the Shinsengumi officers arrived at the Edo zoo. Toshiro, Sougo, and Sagaru got out of their car, and as they ran towards the entrance, they saw that over a hundred people (Toshiro guessed it was over a hundred) were crowding their way out. Very few people got out, because everyone else kept pushing and shoving.

Toshiro frowned, and pulled his cigarette from his lips as he murmured, "I don't think I've ever seen something this chaotic in all my life."

Sougo grabbed his bazooka – which came out of _nowhere_ – and held it in position as he asked the Vice-commander, "Hijikata-san, do you want me to blow up those people?"

Toshiro gawked at the younger man, and yelled as a vein throbbed in his neck, "No! Don't do _that_!"

"Why not? They'll be out of our way. You want to deal with this jaguar, right?"

Sougo was right about that, but that didn't mean the Vice-commander wanted him to blow up the visitors. Hell, the visitors started stepping away from the entrance, because they were frightened of what Sougo would do. Obviously, Sougo didn't give a crap.

He was about to pull the trigger of his bazooka, but Toshiro pushed the weapon up, and Sougo accidentally shot up in the sky.

Sougo gazed up, seeing the shot heading back down. When he realized that it was falling towards the Shinsengumi cars, he told everyone in a bland tone, "Everyone, move away from the cars…except for Hijikata-san."

"OI!" Toshiro snarled. "Quit trying to get me killed!"

All the officers, including Toshiro and Sougo, stormed away from the cars, and in a split second, the bazooka rocket exploded onto the cars.

The Shinsengumi members fell on the ground, and Toshiro scolded the sandy-haired man, "Dammit, Sougo!"

Sougo replied, "Hijikata-san, I told you to stay there."

The men got up, and Toshiro started chasing after Sougo. While Sougo was trying to get away from the angry man, Sagaru frowned at them, and decided, _I'm going to go in._

With that, the spy ran into the entrance, and began searching for the jaguar. He didn't want to do this, but Toshiro was too busy trying to attack Sougo. So he apparently had no choice but to do in.

He was only hoping the jaguar wouldn't try to eat him alive.

**Meanwhile…**

The Yorozuya, Sean, and Christine decided to listen to the female jaguar. The jaguar let out a sigh, and began, "Alright, first thing's first. Before you ask for my name, I should let you know that I don't have one. Well, I did have one, but I hated it."

Sean raised a brow, and curiously asked, "What was it?"

"Spotty," The jaguar cringed a bit when she said it.

Christine frowned, "That's kind of a stupid name."

"I agree. Anyway, I don't have a name, and I don't really want you to just call me 'jaguar', so…would you mind giving me an _actual_ name?"

Shinpachi tapped the tip of his forefinger on his chin, and eventually suggested, "How about Sora?"

The jaguar attempted to smile, but it couldn't. Instead, she just responded, "That's a lovely name. Thank you, young man."

Shinpachi nodded as a smile crept up his features.

The animal, now named Sora, went back to the main topic, "Alright, _now_ I'll explain how I can talk, and why I want you to help me get out of here." She cleared her throat, and the first thing she wanted to talk about was how she was able to talk like a human/Yato being.

Sora explained, "I was sent here almost two months ago. I tried getting out of here when I arrived at this place, but the zoo employees' wouldn't allow me to do that. When I was forced to go into the jaguars' section, I was so angry, that I clawed on the wall. Of course, that didn't help. But then one day, a woman, who happened to be one of the workers, noticed that I was being all sad, so she decided to comfort me."

She laughed – though it sounded more like another roar – and continued, "At first, I was utterly confused on why she wanted to comfort a jaguar, since I _am_ a wild animal, but she apparently wanted to talk to me, because she put a tiny piece of device under my skin. I didn't know what the device was called, but she told me that it would help me talk to people. Her getting the device under my skin was painful, but it wasn't too bad. Anyway, when I spoke for the very first time, I was extremely shocked. But I was able to tell her my problem. She was going to get me out of here; unfortunately, the other workers caught her, and she got fired."

Sean and Shinpachi furrowed their brows, and gave the female jaguar a sympathetic expression. Christine, Kagura, and Gintoki didn't know _what_ to say.

The first person to break was silence was Sean. He asked, "So…what _is_ your problem?"

Another sigh escaped Sora's mouth, and she added, "I…have a cub back home."

"Wait, a _cub_?!" Shinpachi and Christine exclaimed at the same time. "You have a little _baby_?!"

The 16-year-olds' frowned at each other, and Christine commanded the taller teenager, "Stop copying me."

"I said it the _exact same time_ as you!" Shinpachi replied. "That's _not_ copying!"

Christine rolled her eyes, "Copying, saying stuff at the exact same time, whatever!"

Sora narrowed her red eyes, and responded, "Yes, I have a cub. It's almost six months old; my mate's taking care of it, but it's obvious enough that they're worried about me. I want to go home, so that I can take care of my mate and cub." The not-so-violent animal gazed up at the five, and begged, "Please help me. I promise to not harm any of you while you're helping me."

Shinpachi gave Gintoki a sideways glance, and said, "Gin-san, Sora seems really desperate. We _have_ to get her home." Shinpachi had to admit that it was incredibly awkward to have sympathy for a jaguar, but…this talking animal was _so_ desperate to reunite with her cub and mate. How could Shinpachi and the others _not_ feel bad for her?

A sigh of frustration escaped Gintoki's lips, and he said, "Baugh, fine, we'll return this weird jaguar home. But if we get caught, I'm not going to be part of this."

Shinpachi glared at the silver-haired man, but Sora replied in relief, "Thank you."

Everyone except Gintoki (Since he wasn't very happy about this) smiled, but as they were about to move, they heard a familiar voice not too far away.

"Excuse me, Yorozuya, but…um…step away from the jaguar…"

Everybody saw the man, and they found out that it was Yamazaki Sagaru, A.K.A. the spy of the Shinsengumi. Sagaru wondered why the Yorozuya was standing close to the jaguar. He began to think, _Aren't jaguars violent? This jaguar isn't even growling at them! But wait…_

He noticed Christine and Sean. Obviously, Sagaru had never seen them before. Out of curiosity, he pointed at the siblings, and asked, "Who're you two?"

Before Sean and Christine could introduce themselves, Gintoki interjected, "We don't have time for introductions. We're getting this wild animal out of here."

"Hold on, WHAT?!" Sagaru exclaimed, feeling baffled by this. "You're actually going to _free_ it?!"

"Duh," Christine answered. "You're not going to stop us. By the way, did Hijikata Toshiro send you here?"

Sagaru shook his head, "No. He's at the front entrance, chasing Okita-san."

"Uh…why?"

"Didn't you hear an explosion at the front entrance?"

Christine paused, but soon admitted, "No."

The spy sighed, "Anyway, the Vice-chief and Okita-san apparently didn't know I went into the zoo, but that's not important. What is important, though, is for you five to get away from that wild animal."

Sean shook his head in disapproval, "No."

"I beg your pardon?" Sagaru questioned.

"I said no!" The man accidentally snapped. He cleared his throat, and repeated a bit quieter, "I mean, no, we're not getting away from this jaguar."

"Why not?! Have you forgotten that jaguars could rip you into pieces?!"

Christine's vein throbbed, and without saying anything, she walked towards the Shinsengumi member. At first, Sagaru was confused on why she was heading towards him, but the moment she stood in front of him, she slapped him in the face…hard.

Gintoki asked as he scratched his head, "What is it with you and slapping people in the face?"

Christine was about to respond, but Sagaru yelled as he felt his own swollen cheek, "Y-You just slapped me!"

Christine rolled her emerald eyes, "Yeah, so? What're _you_ going to do? Arrest me?" She knew she shouldn't have slapped his face, but she was agitated at the man, so…it couldn't exactly be helped.

Sagaru was a bit hesitant when she asked him that question. Part of him did want to arrest her for assaulting an officer, but Toshiro and Sougo didn't know that he went into the zoo, so if Toshiro found out, he would most likely beat the crap out of the spy for not telling him. Speaking of those two, Sagaru had a feeling that the Vice-chief was still chasing after Sougo for destroying the police cars.

When Sagaru didn't answer, Christine smirked a bit evilly, "Yeah, just as I thought."

"H-Hey! You didn't let me even speak!" Sagaru glared at the teenage girl.

"You were hesitating," She pointed out as she arched a brow.

"I-I was thinking!"

"Uh-huh, sure," Christine murmured. She faced the jaguar, and asked, "You ready?"

The jaguar nodded, and the group of six started walking away from the man.

But Sagaru exclaimed, "Oi! You can't just leave me! What am I supposed to tell the Vice-chief?!"

Sora glared at him, and growled, "Go away already, you annoying man."

Sagaru's mouth ajar, and he yelled in a mixture of horror, shock, and bewilderment, "D-D-Did that jaguar just talk?!"

"Quit stuttering. It's unnatural, uh-huh," Kagura said.

"Let's get moving," Gintoki told everyone. Everybody nodded in agreement, and continued walking.

When the six of them were out of sight, Sagaru still had his mouth parted, but he rubbed his eyes, and thought, _Please tell me I did not hear that animal talk._

Just then, Sagaru felt someone punching him in the head. Sagaru gasped loudly, and quickly turned around, only to see Toshiro and Sougo. Toshiro looked as pissed as ever, while Sougo remained expressionless.

Sagaru gave the duo a cracked smile, but Toshiro growled in a harsh tone, "**Why did you go in without letting me know?!**"

The spy barely gave out a yelp, but he managed to respond, "I would've told you, but you were too busy chasing Okita-san!"

The Vice-commander sighed in aggravation, but asked, "Before I beat you up for suddenly running inside, I have a question. Did you see the jaguar?"

Sagaru actually expected Toshiro to beat him up without explaining anything; he heaved a sigh of relief, and answered, "I did, but…"

"But…?" Toshiro gave the man a glare.

"…b-but the Yorozuya, plus two other people, are trying to free it!"

"Hold on," Toshiro lifted a hand up, halting Sagaru. "Did you just say the Yorozuya are trying to _free_ it?"

"Um…yes," Sagaru shifted his shoulder up uncomfortably.

Toshiro punched him in the face, and shouted, sounding infuriated, "Why didn't you stop them?!"

"I-I was g-going to!" He replied as he took a few steps back. "But the jaguar started talking all of a sudden, and I was in too much of a shock to chase after them!"

"Huh? Jaguars don't talk," Sougo pointed out flatly.

"I know that! This one _did_, though!"

Both Toshiro and Sougo rolled their eyes, not believing it one bit. Sagaru cried, "It's true!"

"Enough!" Toshiro snapped, causing Sagaru to flinch.

The black-haired male grumbled as he was dashing off, "Why would the Yorozuya try to help a freaking wild animal?!"

**With the Yorozuya, Christine, and Sean…**

The group tried finding another way to get out of the zoo. They were fairly certain that very few people were able to leave the zoo. When they found out that the Shinsengumi were here, however, they wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible. The last thing they wanted was for Sora to go back to that hellhole, A.K.A. the jaguar section.

Everyone could hear stomping. The stomps weren't too far away, and when they turned around to see who was chasing after them, it turned out that it was none other than Hijikata Toshiro. Toshiro had veins throbbing in his face and neck, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "What the _hell_ do you think you're all doing?!"

Christine snapped her eyes wide, and she yelled out, "Run…again!" No soon after she said that, she and the group ran once again. This time, they were running away from the Vice-commander of the Shinsengumi. Christine clenched her teeth as she tried to run as fast as possible.

Sean and Gintoki noticed that Toshiro was beginning to catch up to them. Sean screamed without a second thought, "You stay away from us!"

Then, something clicked Toshiro's mind. He recognized Sean's face, and he exclaimed, "Wait a second…I recognize you! You're that guy who wore those weird clothes!" He then gazed to Christine, and added, "And you're that girl who also wore weird clothes!"

Christine gave the man a sideways glance, and glared at him as she replied, "My other clothes were _not_ weird. You've just never seen them before my brother and I came to this city."

"Tch!" Toshiro scoffed.

Sora blinked her eyes, and yelled, "Over there!"

"Huh?" Shinpachi questioned before peering at a wall. Toshiro apparently didn't notice that Sora just talked, because he was too angry.

The group halted themselves in front of the brick wall, and Christine cursed, "Shit!"

Toshiro stopped as well, only he panted, "You can't run now, Yorozuya…and you two."

Everyone frowned at him, and Kagura said as she rested a hand on her hip, "We can still get away from you, uh-huh!"

Toshiro rolled his eyes, "Just bring the jaguar back to its home, and we'll forget this even happened." When he saw that his cigarette was completely used up, he took it out, and dropped it on the floor before stepping on it. He pulled out another cancer stick, and put it between his lips.

Toshiro pulled out his mayonnaise lighter, and just when he was about to ignite his cigarette, he heard a crash.

His blue eyes widened, and he swiftly turned around, seeing a man – wearing a bear costume – lying on the ground. Toshiro found out that the man accidentally crashed into some boxes, filled with food that belonged to the zoo animals. The man's "mask" fell off his face, and the second Toshiro saw it, he shouted, "Katsura!"

Kotaro gasped almost inaudibly, and he whispered to himself, "Uh-oh! I need to get out of here!" He stood up, and stormed off as he tried taking the costume off.

Toshiro apparently forgot about the jaguar situation, because he began running after the wanted man.

Sora blinked in bafflement, and she asked, "What was _that_ all about?"

Shinpachi crackly smiled, "Let's just say the man he's chasing is wanted."

The jaguar chuckled, but then told everyone, "I still need to get out of this place."

"Right," Shinpachi muttered. "But how exactly are we going to get out? I mean, the front entrance is blocked."

"True, but I believe we can get over this wall. The top doesn't look very far."

Shinpachi glanced at the top of the wall, and sighed, "Alright, let's try to get over the wall." He faced Gintoki, and asked, "Gin-san, will you go first? You're the strongest."

Gintoki arched a silver brow, and questioned, "What're you saying?"

"I'm saying that you could try to pull each of us up when you're at the top."

Gintoki rolled his eyes, but replied, "Fine. But if I'm going to pull you brats up, you're going to have to push me to the top first."

"With pleasure," Kagura said as she forcefully pushed Gintoki's butt with her parasol. Gintoki shrieked, but within seconds, he reached the top.

The samurai shouted, "Dammit, Kagura! You didn't have to hit my ass with your freaking umbrella!"

Kagura snickered, "At least we didn't have to touch your butt, uh-huh."

"Grrr…" Gintoki knelt on the top, and reached his hand out as he asked with knitted brows, "Who's going first?"

"Me!" Kagura piped up as she grabbed his hand. Gintoki grumbled inaudible words as he pulled the Yato up.

Christine crossed her arms, and commanded as she tapped her foot a little impatiently, "Hurry up! I don't want that cigarette-obsessed officer to come back." She liked Toshiro (As a character, of course), but she didn't want to deal with him right now. She was also certain that Sean didn't want to deal with the Vice-chief as well.

Sean spoke up, "Christiko, don't bum-rush Gintoki-san."

She lifted a brow up, "Why not? I want to get over this stupid wall. Besides, do you want to face Hijikata, the same guy who _nearly_ arrested us for wearing different clothes?"

Sean frowned at the thought of that. He remembered that when he and Christine entered this world, they were almost arrested for wearing their "normal" clothes. Sean didn't want to remember that, so he gave out a quiet sigh, and responded, "No."

Christine grinned, "Good."

Both siblings didn't realize it, but Gintoki had already pulled Kagura and Shinpachi over the wall. The teenagers landed on the ground, and since the ground was covered in grass, their landing was soft.

Gintoki told the siblings, "Oi, it's your turn."

Sean wasn't sure if he was talking to him or Christine, though he shrugged his shoulders, and grabbed Gintoki's bold hand. Gintoki heaved the man up, but about halfway through, he grunted, "My god, what did you eat for breakfast?!"

The corner of Sean's lips tugged down, and he answered as if it was obvious enough, "Cereal."

"Really?!" Gintoki continued to grunt. "I thought you ate more than that!"

"Don't insult my weight!" Sean scowled.

Gintoki managed to get him over; he said, "I'm _never_ pulling you up again."

Sean rolled his jade-colored eyes before hopping off of the brick wall. His feet landed on the ground, but he accidentally tripped; he fell on the grass, and Shinpachi asked, "Are you okay, Shojaro-san?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," He assured as he pushed himself from the soft ground.

Gintoki faced the 16-year-old girl, and uttered, "Grab my hand, brat."

Without sparing even a millisecond, Christine grabbed his wrist, and ordered, "Pull me up now."

He glared at the girl, "Don't boss me around."

"Don't call me a brat," She told him in a bland tone.

"I can call you a brat all I want," Gintoki retorted as a snort of amusement escape his lips.

He was able to bring Christine to the top, but when she looked down, she asked, "Do I really have to jump?"

Gintoki gawked at her. He thought that that was the stupidest question he had ever heard of. He exclaimed, "You don't have any other choice, so you pretty much _have_ to!"

Christine furrowed a brow, and suggested as she scratched her head, "Shojaro, could you catch me?"

Sean violently shook his head, "No!"

She sighed, "Fine, I'll just jump." She sat on the top, and in a split second, she jumped down. As soon as her feet touched the grass, she mumbled, "I still wanted to be caught."

Gintoki was the last person to get off the wall.

Shinpachi asked Sora, "Sora! Can you get over?"

"Yes," Sora responded. "I have strong legs." She immediately crouched down, and jumped over the brick wall. Christine, Sean, and Shinpachi widened their eyes in surprise. Sure, they saw her jumping on the tallest rock in her section, but her jumping over a _wall_ was more shocking.

Sora shook her body, and asked rhetorically, "Shall we go?"

Without letting any of them answer, she dashed into the woods. The Wardenhall siblings snapped their eyes wide, and they began to run as well. The Yorozuya followed them as Christine exclaimed, "Hey! At least wait for us!"

Sora slowed down, allowing the other to catch up to her. She apologized, "Sorry. I'm just anxious."

"About seeing your family again?" Sean guessed.

The animal nodded, "I really want to see them again."

"I don't blame you, Sora."

As they were all sprinting through the woods, they saw a bush moving. Sora and the others halted, and they peered at the bush. At first, they thought it was just a rabbit. But when a head popped out of the bush, they realized that it wasn't a rabbit. Actually, it wasn't even an animal at all. It was a woman, with long violet hair and dark eyes. The woman had a mole, and she wore ninja-like clothes.

The woman exclaimed as she placed her hand on the grass, "Where did my glasses go?! I could've sworn they were right here!"

Gintoki frowned, "What the hell are you doing here?"

The woman widened her eyes, and gasped, "Gin-san, is that you?! Where are you?!"

"Uh, is she blind?" Sean stared at the violet-haired woman.

Shinpachi quietly sighed, and decided to introduce her to Sean and Christine, "Shojaro-san, Christiko-san, this is Sarutobi Ayame. She's usually called 'Sa-chan'."

Ayame stood up, and asked without even bothering to introduce herself, "Have you seen my glasses? I've been looking for them everywhere!"

Christine spotted her red-framed glasses beside Ayame, so she picked them up, and gave them to her as she said, "Here you go."

"Oh, thank you," Ayame sighed with relief as she put her glasses on. When she put them on, she saw Gintoki, and cheered, "It _is_ you, Gin-san~!"

She lounged herself towards Gintoki, and was about to kiss him, but Gintoki placed his hand over her face, and yelled, "Don't try to put your lips on mine!"

Sean shouted, "Who is this woman?! Is she Gintoki-san's lover?!"

"No!" The angry man snarled. "She's my stalker!"

"What? First Tae-san has a stalker, now you do!"

Ayame cried, "Come on, Gin-san, let me kiss you, and I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day~!"

"Hell no!" Gintoki snapped. "Even after you kiss me, you're still going to stalk me!"

"Yep!" Ayame admitted.

Sean shouted, "Look, ma'am, we honestly don't have time for this! We have some 'business' we need to take care of!"

Ayame glared at the brown-haired man, and questioned as she squinted her eyes, "Are you going to make out with my Gin-san?"

"WHAT?!" Sean cried in utter shock. "No! I'm not gay!"

Ayame turned to Christine, and asked her the same question, "Are _you_ going to try to kiss my darling?"

"Fuck no!" Christine hollered. "I mean, I like Gintoki-san, but I'm not _in love_ with him!" Gintoki was, not surprisingly, another one of Christine's favorite characters; she did love him, but she would never want to actually make out with him, because she was still a teenager.

A smirk crept up Ayame's features, and she nearly kissed Gintoki before he slapped her in the face. Her glasses fell off, and Ayame muttered as she rubbed her cheek, "Oh, no. My glasses fell off again." She turned to who she thought was Gintoki, but was instead Sora. Ayame told Sora, "Gin-san, wait here while I try finding my glasses again."

Sora blinked in confusion, and she faced the Yorozuya. Sean said, "So it's true. Her eyesight really is terrible."

"Come on," Shinpachi replied. "We need to keep going."

"Yeah. I don't think Sa-chan's going to find her glasses for quite a while," Christine agreed.

They sprinted off, leaving Ayame alone. The woman managed to find her glasses in a matter of moments, and the second she put them on again, she found out that Gintoki and the others left.

Ayame exclaimed in a mixture of anger and happiness, "Gin-san, I told you to wait~!"

Without wasting any time, she dashed off, looking for the idiotic samurai.

* * *

**I didn't exactly plan on bringing Ayame into this chapter, but then I decided, "What the hell?" XD**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ My favorite season is spring, not because my birthday's in the spring, but because it's warm.**

**_Question of the update:_ What's your favorite animal?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 14! :)**


	15. Even if wild animals are dangerous

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 15: Even if wild animals are dangerous, they can still love their babies**

"Do you think your cub and mate are in these woods?" Christine asked the animal as she and the others stepped on various leaves and branches.

Sora sighed, and responded without glancing at the girl, "I'm sure they're here. I was taken from this place, after all."

"I see." After that, Christine was silent.

The group of six had been walking through the woods for a good few minutes, and so far, they were starting to wonder where exactly Sora's mate and cub was. Yes, Sora said they were in these woods, but that wasn't very specific. Then again, even if Sora did tell them where her "home" was, the Yorozuya and the siblings would get lost, because the woods they were in were _huge_. Also, how would Sora explain her home, anyway?

Though Sean liked quietness, he thought that the atmosphere around him was starting to get thick. A frown ceased his brow, and he decided to break the somewhat dead silence, "So, um…how big is your cub, Sora?"

Sora answered with a soft chuckle/roar, "I've got to tell you, the last time I saw my son, he was growing pretty big."

"Oh, it's a boy?"

"Yes."

Just then, they heard rustling in the bushes again. Gintoki groaned, "Please tell me it's not Sa-chan again."

"It's not Sa-chan again," Christine said.

Gintoki was about to sigh with relief, but Ayame jumped out of the bushes, and cried out, "I have you now, Gin-san~!"

"Oh, _come on_!" Gintoki snarled as he managed to dodge the crazy woman.

Ayame hit another bush, but squealed, "Gin-san, you can try to run away from me, but you _know_ I'll catch you very soon~!" For the past few seconds, Ayame had been trying to kiss Gintoki, but all Gintoki did was dodge. He _really_ didn't want to deal with this, especially when he – plus the others – was currently trying to free Sora.

Gintoki hollered as Ayame nearly wrapped her arms around his neck, "I'm surprised your glasses haven't fallen off again!"

Shinpachi exclaimed, "That does it! We're leaving you for now, Gin-san!" Without letting the adult reply, Shinpachi stormed off, along with Kagura, Christine, Sean, and Sora.

Gintoki screamed, "Oi! Why're you leaving me with this masochist?!"

Ayame smirked, "Now that those kids are gone, I'm gonna start stripping your clothes off!"

"Nooooo!" Gintoki yowled as Ayame attempted to pull his kimono off.

**Inside Edo zoo…**

Kotaro left the zoo, and Toshiro panted in exhaustion. He cursed under his breath, and decided to not chase Kotaro for the rest of the day, because right now, he wanted to get that stupid jaguar. Wait a minute…the jaguar must've escaped already! Goddammit! Now Toshiro lost it!

Toshiro sheathed his sword, and yelled, "Fuck!"

"What's your problem?" Sougo asked as he and Sagaru stepped behind the Vice-chief.

"I chased after Katsura, but then I realized that I lost that damn jaguar!"

Sougo rolled his crimson eyes, "You could've let me chase after Katsura."

"Well, you're too late; Katsura has already escaped the zoo."

"Are you still going to find the jaguar?" Sagaru asked.

Toshiro slowly shook his head, and decided to answer, "The jaguar escaped as well, so there's no point in trying to find it."

Sagaru gave him a baffled expression; Toshiro clarified as he lit up his cancer stick, "That animal is mostly likely in the forest, so why bother looking for it? Besides, when visitors hear that the jaguar is no longer wandering in the zoo, they won't panic anymore."

"Oh," The spy murmured as he averted his gaze from the Vice-commander.

Toshiro realized something, and asked, "By the way, did either of you two see Kondo-san around?"

Sougo and Sagaru looked at each other as if one of them expected the other to speak. Sougo, however, responded with no hesitation, "I believe I saw Kondo-san moping around in the men's bathroom."

"Wait, when did you go into the men's bathroom?"

Sougo shrugged, "A few minutes ago, when I took a piss."

Toshiro sighed, "At least we know where he is now. He still has that meeting to attend!" He ran away from the other two officers, and headed for the men's bathroom.

When he went into the bathroom, though, he spotted Isao sitting down in the corner, sulking. Toshiro saw that he was only wearing his underwear, and he frowned, "Kondo-san…why're you only in your underwear?"

"Toshi…" Isao began to speak, but it was barely audible for the Vice-chief to hear. "…Otae-chan will never see me as a true gorilla now…"

"HUH?!" Toshiro gawked at the depressed man. "That doesn't answer my question!"

"I'm a failure, Toshi…"

"Kondo-san, what the hell happened to you?!" Toshiro was so bamboozled, that he was starting to get a headache.

**With Shinpachi, Kagura, Sean, Christine, and Sora…**

The group could hear Gintoki crying out for help. Shinpachi didn't want to leave Gintoki alone with Ayame, but because he wanted to free Sora as soon as possible, he apparently had no choice but to leave. Besides, Gintoki could handle Ayame the masochist, right? After all, this wasn't the first time Ayame tried forcing him to do sadistic things to her.

Sweat trickled down Sean's cheek, and he looked back as he suggested, "Should we go back to him?"

Kagura assured, "Gin-chan will be fine, uh-huh."

"Are you sure? Because I _really_ think we should help him."

"Quit worrying, grumpy. He's dealt with her before, uh-huh."

Sean rolled his eyes, but released a sigh as he thought, _I hope Gintoki-san's alright._

As if on cue, they heard Gintoki yell, "You fucking brats! You left me with that masochistic creep!"

They all turned around, and saw that Gintoki's kimono and shirt were undone. They also noticed that Ayame was chasing after the wavy-haired samurai. Ayame pulled out a small pack of natto, and chimed, "I'm not done with you, darling~! I still need to feed you some of my natto~!" She also pulled a pair of chopsticks from her pocket, and she used the chopsticks to pick up some natto from the pack. When she got some of it out, she spread it on Gintoki's hair, and added, "It has a spicy flavor to it~! You're definitely going to love it~!"

Both Sean and Christine held disgusted expressions. Christine thought as she wrinkled her nose, _I've seen Sa-chan do this in the anime, but seeing it right now is disgusting._

Sean leaned down, and whispered in his younger sisters' ear, "Does she always do this to Gintoki-san?"

Christine whispered back as she folded her arms over her chest, "Yep. As far as I can remember, natto's her favorite food."

"You know, I _was_ thinking of trying natto sometime…but after seeing this, I think I've changed my mind."

Christine held back a laugh as Kagura cried, "You know what?! Since Sa-chan's not going to stay away from Gin-chan for now, how about she goes with us until we free Mora?!"

"It's Sora," The animal corrected her.

Ayame brightened her eyes up, and exclaimed in excitement, "Really?!"

"Yeah," Kagura rolled her cerulean eyes.

"Yay!" Ayame cheered as she hugged Gintoki, who was now furious at the Yato.

Gintoki screamed, "Kagura! Why did you encourage her to come with us?!"

"Because if you keep pushing her away, she's only going to slow us down, uh-huh!" Kagura howled.

Gintoki paused for a moment before scoffing, "I'm going to regret saying this, but fine. She can come with us _until_ we free the jaguar!"

"I feel so happy now~!" Ayame tightened her hug.

Sean rolled his eyes, and without a word, he continued walking, along with the rest of the group.

Sora asked Shinpachi, "Why does she love him so much?"

Shinpachi shrugged, "I'm guessing she loves him because of his looks."

Sean frowned, "Huh? Looks aren't everything, you know."

Just as Shinpachi was about to reply, Sora stopped all of a sudden. Sean arched a brow, and questioned, "What is it, Sora?"

"I sense something," Sora uttered. She slowly stepped to a random bush, and sniffed. The smell she was sensing was a bit unusual. Sora squinted her ruby-red eyes, and roared a little.

The figure poked its head out of the bush, and it turned out it was a man, with long hair; his eyes were closed. The man's hair was covered with leaves, and he turned his head from side-to-side as he exclaimed, "Young master! Where are you?!"

Sean and Shinpachi gawked at the man as he stood up from the bushes. Sora inquired, "Who are _you_?"

The man quickly introduced, "My name is Toujou Ayumu."

Gintoki huffed, "What're you doing here?"

"When I woke up this morning, I found out that my young master had already left. So I came to find her."

Gintoki rolled his eyes, "Can't you just give the girl a break? You're worse than gorilla."

Shinpachi decided to ask Ayumu, "Why?"

"Because I want to give young master her new outfit."

"What's the outfit?" Sean crossed his arms.

"A ninja outfit."

"Huh, that doesn't sound too bad."

Christine asked suspiciously, "Is it a _perverted_ ninja outfit?"

Ayumu slowly responded, "Well, it's short, and may show some cleavage…"

"Yeah, you're definitely a creep."

"I'm not a creep! I just think the outfit is _perfect_ for the young master!"

"You do realize that by the time she gets it, she's going to blow it up or even burn it, right?" Gintoki pointed out.

Ayumu wasn't listening to the samurai. Instead of responding right away, he pulled out a small book from his left pocket. Everyone immediately found out that it was his diary, because he began to mumble, "I was able to buy that ninja outfit for my young master. I haven't given it to her yet, but I'm sure she'll be amazed at the design on it when she sees it."

A vein popped into Christine's cheek, and she walked towards the weird man. As soon as she was in front of him, she pulled out her tanto, and stabbed the cover of his diary. When Ayumu saw (Well, he didn't really _see_ it, since his eyes were always closed. He just "heard" it) the tip of her tanto blade in his diary, he yelped, and then cried out, "What did you do that for?!"

Without alarming him, she grabbed the top of his diary, and pulled it away from his hands as she replied, "As I mentioned already, you're a freaking creep. You probably don't need this, anymore." She stabbed the diary multiple times as she began to whistle a happy tune. Ayumu gave the girl a traumatized expression, and he tried reaching out for his diary, but his hand shook tremendously; all he gave out was a croaky sound.

Christine dropped the now-torn diary, and said, "There you go. Now you can go back to your precious diary."

"You…you despicable child!" Ayumu hollered as he picked up his small journal. "Now I have to buy a new one!"

Christine walked past him, and asked Sora, "Sora, how old are you?"

Sora decided to ignore Ayumu, and she responded, "I'm almost two and a half."

While Ayumu was grieving over his ripped-up diary, the Yorozuya, Ayame, and Sean left the man, and acted as if nothing had happened. Christine put her tanto back in the case, and stuck it in her sash as she continued whistling.

Shinpachi gave Christine a cracked smile before informing her, "Christiko-san…you didn't have to do that."

The only response he received was a shrug.

All of a sudden, Sora could hear a quiet, but hearable roar. She snapped her eyes wide, and exclaimed, "That's my son!"

"Eh? We didn't hear anything," Gintoki said while still trying to push Ayame away.

"That's because my ears are better than yours."

"Oi! Are you saying I'm deaf?!" Gintoki scowled at the female animal.

Ayame whined, "Gin-san, the only person you should yell at is me~!"

"You shut up!"

Sora sprinted into a few bushes, and gave out a loud roar. Everyone flinched at this, but remained silent.

Shinpachi blinked multiple times before realizing, _Did Sora hear her cub and mate?_

They heard another roar, only it belonged to a cub. It was kind of obvious, because cubs' roars were a little weaker than adult jaguars' roars.

Sora roared back at her baby; within seconds, a cub and another jaguar came out, and the second they saw her, the cub dashed towards its mother, and he rubbed his head on her leg.

When Sora's mate noticed the humans and Yato, however, he gave them a harsh glare, and started growling. The male jaguar stepped towards the group, and everybody except Ayame, Kagura, and Gintoki looked at the animal fearfully. Even Christine looked scared, because she had never been this close to a wild animal before, minus Sora.

Sora saw her mate getting closer and closer to the group, so she halted in front of him, and growled, apparently talking to him.

Shinpachi and the Wardenhall siblings all sighed with relief, but their hearts thumped against their ribcages. They were still afraid of the male jaguar, until Sora glanced at them, and tried smiling, "My mate apologizes for being rude to you."

"N-No, that's okay," Sean replied, lifting his hands in front of his chest.

Sweat formed on his forehead, and he thought as he heavily sighed, _I don't know why, but this is kind of awkward._

The cub rubbed its head on Sora again, only it quietly roared. Christine thought the cubs' roar sounded adorable. A goofy smile crept up her face, and she muttered, "That cub is so cute."

Shinpachi rolled his eyes, but smiled, "So I guess we should be heading back now."

"Wait," Sora halted.

"What is it?" Shinpachi arched a brow.

"I want to thank you for helping me get out of that hellhole. I may have been there for only two months, but those two months felt like two _years_. Still, I thank you all for getting me out of that zoo."

"You're most welcome, Sora," Sean smiled as well, despite still feeling a little awkward from when Sora's mate glared at them. "We were glad to help you."

He narrowed his eyes, and added in a whisper, "So I guess this is good-bye."

Sora nodded, "It is." She gazed in another direction, and murmured, "Good-bye, everyone. Once again, thank you very much for helping me." She brushed her fur against her mates', and she gave him a look that said, 'Alright, we can go home now'.

Sora looked at the group one last time before walking away with her mate and cub.

As soon as the family of jaguars was out of sight, it became silent. Christine chewed on her lower lip as Shinpachi and Sean stared at one another.

Kagura broke the silence by exclaiming, "Okay, can we go back to the zoo, now?! I want to buy more sukonbu, uh-huh!"

"Right," Shinpachi heartily chuckled.

Gintoki pushed Ayame away from him, and said flatly, "Alright, now go away."

Ayame pouted, "Gin-san, you're so mean." She rested her chin on Gintoki's shoulder, and smirked, "I love it~!"

"Oh, for the love of crap!" Without warning, he snatched the pair of glasses off of her face, and threw them in a random direction. He didn't know where he tossed them, but Gintoki couldn't care less.

Ayame widened her gray-colored eyes, and uttered as she knelt on the ground, "Oops, my glasses fell off yet again."

"Uh, Gintoki-san threw them somewhere," Sean informed the violet-haired woman.

Ayame paid no mind to the 19-year-old; instead, she ran her fingers through the grass, and when she touched Christine's right foot, Ayame questioned, "Are these my glasses?"

She grabbed Christine's ankle, and just as Christine was about to scream, 'What the fuck are you doing?!', Ayame pulled her ankle up, making the teenage girl fall on the ground. Ayame stood up, and as Christine was now practically upside down, the ninja put her foot to her face.

Christine snarled, "That's my foot, you blind bat!"

"Hm," Ayame hummed. "These _aren't_ my glasses. Darn."

She violently threw Christine, who started screaming. Her body slammed into her older brothers'; Sean grunted painfully as the two of them lied down on the ground.

Sean rubbed the top of his head, and scowled at the woman, "You didn't have to throw my sister at me!"

Once more, Ayame didn't listen. She knelt back on the ground, and continued searching for her glasses.

Shinpachi and Kagura pulled Christine and Sean up, and Shinpachi asked, "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sean grumbled, glaring at Ayame.

Gintoki ordered them, "Oi, let's get out of here before Sa-chan finds her glasses, and harasses me again!"

Christine snorted in amusement, "You two should get married someday."

"What was that?!" Gintoki harshly scowled at the girl.

Christine frowned at his expression, "Nothing."

"Tch," Was all Gintoki said.

While Ayame was apparently distracted, everyone headed back to the zoo.

**Ten minutes later…**

The group returned (But of course, they were forced to go over the wall again), and saw the Shinsengumi officers trying to comfort Isao. Isao was still moping around, even when he put his Shinsengumi uniform back on.

Isao had blank eyes, and he muttered to Toshiro and Sougo as he peered at the ground, "Toshi…Sougo…please tell me that Otae-chan will marry me someday…"

Toshiro frowned, but Sougo immediately responded, "She'll never marry you."

"SOUGO!" Isao cried as tears streamed down his cheeks. "You're not supposed to say that!"

Sougo walked away from the chief, and said off-topically, "I need to get some more ammo for my bazooka."

The Yorozuya members all rolled their eyes, while Christine and Sean stared at each other with frowns on their faces.

Gintoki ordered as he put his pinkie in his ear, "Ignore them. They're idiots, anyway."

Sean questioned with a raised brow, "What makes you think they're idiots?"

"Haven't you seen them? They do stupid things, such as blowing up cars, and threatening people for no reason."

Shinpachi furrowed a brow, and corrected the silver-haired man, "Gin-san, they're not complete idiots. Though they do blow up cars sometimes, so you're right about that."

Sean was about to ask if the entrance was still blocked, but he found out that it cleared. Apparently, the visitors either left, still panicking about the jaguar chasing after them, or they continued walking through the zoo, deciding to forget about the jaguar (Since it was no longer here).

The Yorozuya, though, chose to leave. Sean and Christine stood there, but the older Warndenhall gave Christine a sideways glance, and asked with a barely visible smirk, "Did you have fun visiting the zoo, Christine?"

Christine shrugged, "Yeah, I had fun…"

Sean's smirk faded, and he asked another question, only he sounded a bit concerned, "Is something the matter?"

"No, it's just that…" The girl shifted her shoulder up; she managed to ask her brother something, but it was too quiet for Sean to hear.

Sean calmly commanded, "Speak up; I can't hear you."

Christine spoke a little louder, but made sure nobody else heard her, "Do you think we should at least tell Shinpachi-san the truth about us getting sucked into this world?"

Sean immediately understood; he widened his eyes, and stared at his sister for the longest time. Christine gave him a serious expression, and eventually, Sean heaved a sigh, and replied what sounded like a whisper, "Christine…I'm not ready to tell the Yorozuya, let alone Shinpachi, that yet. Why do you only want to tell Shinpachi-san the truth, anyway?"

"Because out of the whole Yorozuya trio, he's the most honest. Sure, he'd be angry at us, but maybe he'd forgive us after that. And after we tell him, we'll also tell Gintoki-san and Kagura-chan."

"I don't know…" Sean began to hesitate. "I _want_ to tell them, I really do, but how exactly are we going to tell them that we're from _another world_? They probably won't even believe us."

Christine sighed, "You're probably right…I'm not ready, either, so I guess we'll have to wait for now."

Just then, Gintoki hollered, "Oi, you two! Why're you still standing there?!"

Both siblings gasped, but they charged towards the Yorozuya, and as soon as they were beside them, Gintoki informed them, "We're leaving now. The last thing I want is for you two brats to be behind."

Sean got used to being called a brat – despite not being a kid anymore – because he knew that Gintoki would not stop calling him and Christine that anytime soon.

Gintoki sighed, and the group of five left the zoo.

* * *

**And thus concludes the "Jaguar Arc". Before you ask why Ayame and Ayumu weren't shocked at Sora talking, let's just say they didn't care. XD**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ Cats. I love them far too much. LOL**

**_Question of the update:_ Favorite holiday?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 15! :)**


	16. What exactly does the word rave mean?

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 16: What exactly does the word "rave" mean?**

The Yorozuya and the siblings, once again, sat in the living room. Each of them were doing their usual things; Christine held a plate of cooked steak, and she stabbed her fork into the meat as she muttered a bit wickedly, "Come to mama!"

She cut a piece of the meat, and she put it in her mouth. As she was chewing on the delicious food, she squealed, "Yummy!"

Gintoki questioned, "Why are you so obsessed with meat? Everyone knows that sweets are the best type of food."

"You're only saying that because _you_ have an obsession with sweets. Also, sweets are _barely_ food at all," Christine pointed out as she took another bite of her steak. It wasn't that Christine didn't like eating sweet food; in fact, she loved most sweets. It's just that she wasn't stupid enough to eat them constantly, like Gintoki; she refused to get diabetes before she was an adult.

The man rolled his eyes, "You're the most _boring _person I've ever known! We've met almost three weeks ago, and you're already a dull human being!"

She gawked at him, "How the hell am I boring?! Just because I don't eat as much sweets as you, doesn't mean I'm dull!"

She ate the rest of her lunch, and stood up from the couch, now going to the kitchen. Before she could clean her plate, however, Gintoki replied as he pointed his finger at her, "You could at least mix meat with ice cream!"

"Ew, that sounds gross!" Sean scrunched up his face as he averted his gaze from his book. Sean was only 20 pages away from finishing his book, and he wanted to finish it as soon as possible, because then, he would read it again. Yes, he was _that_ obsessed with his book.

Christine's vein throbbed, and she growled, "**Do you want me to slam this plate on your head?!**"

That's when the silver-headed man paused. A dark aura appeared behind Christine's head, and Gintoki gave the girl a cracked smile as a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek. The look in her eyes reminded him of Tae, when she was angry.

Gintoki raised his hands up in defeat, and he stammered, "I-I was only j-joking. P-Please don't hit me with th-that plate."

Christine glared at the man, but she eventually turned around, and entered the kitchen. She cleaned up her plate, and dried it before putting it in the cupboard.

Gintoki sighed with relief, and thought, _Jeez, I thought she was going to break my skull!_

Sean sighed, "Christiko, you had no reason to threaten Gintoki-san like that."

"What? He was practically forcing me to eat ice cream with pieces of _meat_ in it! Do you have any idea how gross that sounded?!" Christine exclaimed as she was heading back to the living room.

Gintoki slammed his JUMP magazine on his desk – which caused Shinpachi and Kagura to flinch – and snarled, "That was a _suggestion_! There's a difference between suggesting someone and forcing another!"

"Gintoki-san's right, Christiko," Sean agreed as he set his book down. "His meat and sweet mixing comment was gross, I'll admit, but you had _no right_ to make a threat towards him!"

The girl scoffed as she crossed her arms, "He didn't clarify, so that was his own fault."

Sean face-palmed himself, "Are you playing the 'blame game' now?"

"No; it really was his fault."

"Christiko-san, please stop it," Shinpachi pleaded. "I really don't want you and your brother to cause a scene."

"Tch, I didn't want to argue with my brother, anyway. He's a grump."

Sean clenched his teeth in frustration, and hollered as he quickly stood up, "The reason why I'm grumpy is because you always get on my nerves!"

Christine rolled her emerald eyes, "Shojaro, you just have a short temper!"

"That doesn't matter! You _need_ to stop causing an attitude to not just towards me, but to other people, _including_ the Yorozuya!"

"Peh! Lots of people are idiots towards me!" Christine obviously didn't want to admit that she had a bad attitude.

Sean gripped his hair in frustration; he looked like he was about to rip his hair off. "Are you _trying_ to infuriate me?!" He released his hair, but he raised his tone, "That's the most _pathetic_ excuse I've ever heard!"

"Pathetic?!" Christine cried. "You're calling _my_ excuse _pathetic_?!" She started pointing at her older brother as she harshly glared at him.

Sean replied, glaring back at the obnoxious girl, "YES! Why do you always deny that you have a bad attitude?!"

"Because I _don't_ have a bad attitude!"

"You do have one!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"No. I. DON'T!"

"Yes. You. DO!"

All the Yorozuya members frowned at the argument between Sean and Christine. They didn't like where this was going; they wanted to stop them, but because the siblings were enraged at the moment, they hesitated. Hell, even Kagura didn't know what to do. She wanted them to shut up, but she was so speechless at their confrontation.

Sean snapped, and screamed without a second thought, "Perhaps the reason why you've been acting like a brat for years is because of our mom!"

That's when everybody – including Sean himself – widened their eyes in shock. Their argument finally stopped, but Christine clenched her teeth, and without warning, she grabbed the ends of Sean's kimono top, and sneered, "Don't you fucking _dare_ bring mom into this!"

Gintoki managed to speak up, but he stared at the siblings awkwardly, and asked, "Um…are you brats finally done yelling?"

Christine sighed heavily as she let go of Sean's clothes, "Yeah." She hadn't completely calmed down, but she chose to not talk to her brother at the moment. The girl sat down on the couch, and crossed her arms as she added in a mutter, "We're done yelling."

Shinpachi was glad they stopped, but he was now curious about their mom. Christine told him that their parents "died" years ago, but what exactly happened? Did Christine's hate her mother? Shinpachi wanted to ask, but he was fairly certain that Christine was still angry, so perhaps it was best to not question the girl right now.

Sean sat down as well, but all of a sudden, someone was knocking on the door. Shinpachi immediately offered, "I'll get it."

Sean started to wonder why Shinpachi was always the one to get the door. Sean once tried getting the door, but Shinpachi suggested that he'd do it. Maybe Shinpachi just loved welcoming people into the Yorozuya house. That could be it; otherwise it would make a _lot_ more sense.

Anyway, Shinpachi opened up the sliding door, and saw his older sister, Tae. He wasn't that surprised to see her here, but he asked, "Sis, what brings you here?"

Tae entered the household, and took off her sandals before heading into the living room. She responded, "I wanted to ask you, Gin-san, Kagura-chan, Christiko-san, and Shojaro-san something."

As soon as she sat down on the couch, Gintoki went over to the other sofa, and ordered Christine, "Oi, weirdo girl. Get off of that couch."

Christine realized that she was sitting right next to Tae. She was about to stand up, but Tae shook her head, "No, she can stay here."

Gintoki rolled his crimson eyes, but didn't say anything else.

Christine smirked as Tae said, "Anyway, I came here to inform you that a group of people opened up a dance club. I asked them what kind of music they played when they opened it, and they said they played something called 'rave' or 'dubstep'."

The emerald-eyed girl perked up, and repeated, "Dubstep?"

"Yes," Tae replied while raising a brow. "You've heard of it?"

"Yep!" Christine cheered, apparently calming down from her quarrel with Sean. "I'm going to guess you haven't heard of it, right?"

"No, I've never heard of dubstep," Tae responded a matter-of-factly.

Gintoki picked his nose, and asked, "What's your point, then?"

"I kind of want to go there to have a little fun, so I'm inviting all of you to come with me."

"Hold on a minute," Gintoki halted as he pulled his pinkie out of his nostril. "You want me to go to a _dance_ club? Otae, you should know by now that I don't dance."

Tae closed her brown eyes, and smiled, but Gintoki found out that it was one of her evil smiles. A frown crept up his features as Tae asked in a somewhat threatening tone, "You don't want to go?"

A few beads of sweat trailed down Gintoki's cheek, and as a dark-purple aura appeared behind Tae's head, she added, slightly tilting her head to the side, "I bought six tickets to that club, so if you don't go, then I'll believe I've wasted part of my money." Without warning, she stood up, and walked towards the idiotic samurai. The second she stood in front of him, she grabbed his perm hair, and forced him to stand up. She growled darkly, "**You're coming, whether you like it or not. Understand?**"

Gintoki winced in pain, but managed to nod, "A-Alright! I'll go with you!"

The dark aura suddenly disappeared, and Tae released his hair. Gintoki knelt on the ground, and rubbed his sore scalp as he thought, _Jesus Christ!__ I actually thought my hair was gonna be ripped off!_

Though Christine didn't show it, she was glad that Tae calmed down. She sort of regretted sitting next to her, because she thought Tae was going to attack her as well (Even though Christine never said anything).

Tae replied, sounding pleased, "Good. I'll meet you all there at 8:30."

Christine decided to ask the 18-year-old girl, "Otae-san, I have two questions. One: Will we have to show off a lot of skin? And two: won't it be hot in there? I mean, it's April; it's warm enough outside." For the past few days, it had been warm out, to the point where – in Christine's opinion – it would become a little hot. Christine was never a huge fan of hot weather. She could tolerate spring, since spring was the season that was not too hot or too cold, but Christine _despised_ the heat. Summer was her favorite season, but at the same time, she loathed it with a passion. The only reason why she "loved" summer the most was because she wouldn't have any school.

Tae peered at Christine, and responded, "No, you can still wear your normal clothes. As for your second question, Oryou-san informed me that there will be fans in there, so you don't have to worry that much about the heat."

"Good, because I can't stand being in the heat for a long period of time," Christine sighed with relief.

The brown-haired girl smiled, "Anyway, as I said already, I'll see you at 8:30." She put her sandals back on, and without a word, she left.

Gintoki's hand was still placed on top of his head, but he exclaimed, "She should've talked to us about it _before_ she got those damn tickets! Has she even seen me dance?! Hell no!"

Sean sighed almost silently, "Well, Tae-san had already bought the tickets, so we have no choice but to go with her tonight. Hopefully, though, I won't have to actually dance." Sean had never been comfortable with dancing; whenever he did try to dance, he'd look awkward. He once tried dancing in front of his friends – back in his world – but they laughed at him; he was embarrassed and humiliated.

Christine, on the other hand, loved to dance. She piped up, "I could teach you how to dance, Gintoki-san!"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Gintoki snorted. "I'd rather get drunk than dance with a brat. Hell, being taught how to dance by a _16-year old girl _sounds embarrassing enough."

Christine scowled, "Well, I feel offended now!" She crossed her arms, and pouted.

Shinpachi suggested, "You could dance with me if you'd like, Christiko-san."

The girl widened her eyes, and smiled, "Really?!"

"I'm not a very good dancer," Shinpachi admitted. "But I wouldn't mind dancing with you."

A smirk crept up Christine's face, and she asked, teasing the teenage boy, "Do you _like_ me, Shinpachi-san?"

Shinpachi snapped his eyes wide in shock, and he cried, "N-No! I only like you as a friend!"

"I was only teasing you," She informed him, though Christine could've sworn she saw him blushing a little bit.

Christine ignored the expression on his face, however, and asked Kagura, "Do you know how to dance, Kagura-chan?"

Kagura quirked a brow, and then laughed, "Of course I know how to dance! Here, I'll dance right now!" She hopped off the couch, and immediately started doing dance moves. The first move she did was the Gangnam Style one.

Christine chuckled, "That dance was _so_ last year."

The Yato glared at her, but did another move; this time, she was kicking her legs up in the air.

Kagura did a few more moves before deciding to call it quits. She sat back on the couch, and said as she began to eat her sukonbu (Which came out of nowhere).

Gintoki sat in his desk, and grumbled as he rested his hands on the back of his head, "Let's hope Otae won't force me to dance."

**Five hours later…**

Everyone chose to leave the house at around 8:15, just 15 minutes before they needed to meet up with Tae. They didn't exactly know where this dance club was, but they were fairly certain that it wasn't very far.

Shinpachi murmured as he furrowed a brow, "I should've asked sis where it is."

Christine blurted, "Are we lost? I'm sure we're lost, uh-huh."

Kagura grabbed the collar of Christine's kimono, and exclaimed, "Don't you add 'uh-huh' at the end of your sentences! That's _my_ catchphrase, uh-huh!"

The light-brown haired girl rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

Gintoki assured, "We're not lost. We're in the right direction…I think."

"See? You even said 'I think'!" Christine pointed out.

"Shut up!" Gintoki snapped. "Just because I said 'I think', doesn't mean I don't know where we're going!"

"Actually, it does," She replied. "Honestly, you have no sense of direction."

"That does it! I'm gonna toss you into the garbage can!" Without warning, the samurai gripped her clothes, and he picked her up before walking over to a nearby trashcan.

Sean yowled, "Gintoki-san, don't throw my sister into the garbage!"

"She was insulting me!"

Sean couldn't quite understand how Christine was "insulting" Gintoki, but he replied, "That doesn't mean you should throw her in the garbage!"

"Shojaro, haven't _you_ gotten so angry, that you threw her in the trashcan?"

"Heck no! Sure, my sister's a brat, but I'm _not_ evil!"

"Wait, are you calling _me_ evil?!" Now Gintoki felt insulted.

Sean folded his arms in front of his chest, "You're about to toss her in the garbage, so yes, I'm calling you evil!"

Gintoki dropped Christine, which caused the girl to roughly fall to the ground. Christine snarled, "Hey!"

The man ignored her, however, and started heading towards Sean. Sean frowned as he lifted his hands up, "W-Wait, Gintoki-san…"

Gintoki didn't listen to him. Instead, he growled, "_Nobody_ should call me evil!"

Sean crackly smiled, and began to panic, "G-Gintoki-san, I didn't mean it like that!"

"Bullshit! You totally meant that! You even had that serious expression on your face when you called me evil!"

The 19-year-old took a step back, and just when Gintoki was about to beat the crap out of him, they heard Tae calling out, "There you guys are!"

The group peered at the girl, and Gintoki halted in his tracks. Sean heaved a sigh; he felt relieved that Gintoki didn't attack him, though he glanced at his sister, and crossed her arms, pouting.

Sean walked over to Christine, and helped her up. Christine mumbled, "Thanks."

As soon as Tae stepped in front of the group, Shinpachi asked, "Sis, were you looking for us?"

Tae nodded, "I was. I looked for you, because I realized that I didn't tell you which street the dance club was at."

Christine wanted to yell out, 'You should've told us before you left the Yorozuya house!', but she didn't want to anger Tae, so instead of yelling at her, she half-smiled, "That's okay. Everybody tends to forget."

Tae smiled back, "Anyway, since I'm the only one who knows where it is, I'd like you all to follow me." She turned around, and headed for the dance club.

The Yorozuya and the siblings all followed her, but Christine thought, _She still should've told us exactly where it was._

Within minutes, they arrived at a blackish-blue building with green and pink lights. Everyone saw the sign above the entrance, and it was written out in bold letters, 'Rave-a-Thon'. Sean, Shinpachi, and Christine thought the name of the dance club was cheesy, but they couldn't complain about it.

Tae saw her friend, Oryou, and called, "We've arrived, Oryou-san!"

Oryou peered at the group out of the corner of her eye, and smirked, "There you are. What took you so long?"

Tae rolled her bronze eyes, "I was looking for Gin-san and the others." She walked towards her friend, and asked, "Do you have your ticket?"

Oryou nodded in response, and she pulled her ticket out of her pocket. She showed it to Tae, and Tae said, "Good." She faced the others, and pulled out six tickets from her pocket as well. She handed each one to the group of five, and suggested, "You'll need to hold onto those until we enter the building."

Without letting anyone reply, she and her short-haired friend entered the building. The Yorozuya, Sean, and Christine stared at their tickets, and Christine whispered to mostly herself, "My first time going into a dance club…man, this is so exciting!"

Christine had always wanted to go to a dance club like this since she was 13. When she first heard of "rave" and "dubstep" music, she almost immediately became addicted to it. She didn't know how that happened, but she didn't care one bit. Christine was so eager to go inside the club.

Christine didn't notice, but Sean gently grabbed her wrist, and pulled her inside the building. A grin was plastered on Christine's face, and when Shinpachi noticed it, he questioned, "You excited, Christiko-san?"

"How can I _not_ be excited?" She rhetorically asked. "I've always wanted to go to a club like this!"

Shinpachi smiled at the girl as they walked through the hallway. While they were on their way to the actual club, they could hear music. The music sounded so loud, that the group felt the ground vibrating against the bottom of their feet.

Gintoki frowned, "Does the music have to be _this_ loud?"

"Apparently," Sean muttered.

A security guard stood in front of the doorway. Tae and Oryou weren't seen, but that was because they were already in.

The guard ordered, "Your tickets, please."

Everybody gave him the tickets, and eventually, the serious-looking guard opened one of the double doors, and said in a low tone, "Have a nice time."

The way he said it crept Shinpachi and Sean out. The two of them quickly went inside the club, but the second they entered, they saw _dozens_ of various-colored lights flashing through the room. Shinpachi snapped his dark eyes wide, and mumbled, barely hearing himself, "Wow. I don't think I've seen this many lights in one room."

"Neither have I, but let's dance!" Christine chimed in before sprinting through the huge room.

Sean would've tried calling out to her, but he realized that the music was too loud, so even if he tried yelling, Christine wouldn't be able to hear him.

A sigh parted his lips, and he grumbled, "Oh, what the heck? I might as well just stand over there." He pointed at what looked to be a bar. Though he was no fan of alcohol (He was a bit too young to drink it, anyway), he chose to walk over to the "bar" section.

Less than a minute later, he stood by the section, and sighed once again, "Man, is it always stuffy in here? Didn't Tae-san say there would be fans?"

The bartender must've heard him, because he chuckled, "When you're in a room filled with dozens of people, of course it's going to get stuffy."

Sean gasped, and felt his cheeks burn in slight embarrassment. Apparently, he didn't notice that he was thinking out loud until the bartender spoke up. He rubbed the back of his neck, and slightly stammered, "I-I didn't mean to complain; in fact, I d-don't like complaining."

Another chuckle escaped the older man's lips, and he replied a matter-of-factly, "Don't worry, kid. You're not the first person to complain about the heat." He picked up a random glass, and noticed some grime on it. His brow furrowed, and he grabbed a washcloth. He put some water in it, and began cleaning the glass cup.

When he realized that Sean was still standing beside the section, he decided to ask, "Can I get you something to drink, kid?"

"S-Sorry, I don't drink," Sean confirmed.

The bartender smiled, "I don't _just_ have alcohol. I have other drinks as well."

"Oh? Like what?" Sean inquired.

"Well, we have lemonade, pink lemonade, soda, and iced coffee."

"Do you have orange juice?"

"Oh, yes, I do."

He was about to pour some orange juice into a glass, but Sean asked, "How much do I owe you?"

The bartender cocked a brow up, but let another chuckle out, "Kid, you don't have to pay me _anything_."

Sean frowned, "Why not?"

"You're in a dance club. If we were in an actual bar, then you'd have to pay. But the drinks here are free."

"Are you sure that's okay?"

"The owner of this place said it was. And besides, it's stuffy in here, like you said, so you probably want something cold to drink, anyway."

Sean was half-relieved that he didn't have to pay for his drink, but at the same time, he was kind of baffled on why the drinks were free. He shrugged it off, though, and a moment later, he received his drink. Sean thanked the bartender, and held the glass before bringing it to his lips. He drank some of the orange juice, and mumbled, "Mmm, delicious."

Just then, Christine came up, and exclaimed, "Oi, bartender! Do you have any sprite?!"

Despite her abrupt appearance, the bartender grinned, "As a matter of fact, I do. Would you like some?"

"Yep!"

The bartender opened up a small refrigerator, and took out a can of sprite. He handed it to the girl, and Christine dug in her pocket for some change, but the bartender informed her, "You don't need to pay."

"I don't?"

"No."

"Yay!" Christine cheered as she grabbed her can of soda. She dashed away, and Sean rolled his eyes before drinking his orange juice.

After he finished, he set the glass down, and said, "Thanks again for the orange juice."

"You're welcome," The bartender replied.

Sean sighed, and rested his arms on the counter. He watched the other people dance, and he stared at them, now looking bored. The bartender suggested, "Aren't you going to dance?"

"I'm not much of a dancer," Sean gave the man a sheepish smile.

"Hm? Why did you come here, then?"

Sean shrugged, "I was practically forced to go."

"I see. Don't you _want_ to dance, though?"

The brown-haired man faltered, "P-Part of me wants to, b-but I'm too shy."

"Too shy?" He arched a brow once again.

Sean hesitated; without a word, he walked away from the bar section. The bartender frowned, but sighed, and murmured to himself, "That boy needs to have _some_ fun."

Sean noticed Shinpachi, who was trying to dance with Christine. Christine drank some of her sprite, while telling the teenage boy, "No, no, Shinpachi-san! You're supposed to kick your legs up in the air! Like this!" She kicked one leg up, but almost accidentally kicked a random woman in the face.

The woman yelped, "Hey, watch it, you brat!"

Christine stuck her tongue out at the woman, but the woman ignored her, and stepped away. Christine huffed, "Some people."

Shinpachi's lips curved down, forming a frown. He sighed, "Christiko-san, maybe it's best if you _don't_ kick in the air."

"Fine," She pouted; Christine spotted her brother, and she smirked, "Oi, bro! Come dance with me!"

"Christiko, you know I don't dance," Sean replied.

Christine rolled her jade-colored eyes, "You're in the dance club now, so you're left with no choice!" She handed Shinpachi the can of soda; without alarming her older brother, Christine grabbed his wrists, and pulled him towards her.

Sean widened his eyes, "W-Wait! What do you think you're doing?!"

"What does it look like?" She lifted a brow up. "I'm going to teach you how to dance!"

"No way!" He exclaimed, trying to get away from his sister. "I'm only going to be humiliated!"

"Shojaro, is this about the time you danced in front of your old friends years ago?"

"I was hoping you'd forget it by now," He groaned in slight mortification.

The girl rolled her eyes yet again, but gripped on Sean's wrist, and began dancing with him. Well, Sean didn't do much; all he was doing was standing there like a statue. Christine, on the other hand, jumped up and down, looking more ecstatic than ever.

Sean now wished he wasn't in this building right now.

* * *

**As you can tell, I've added "Yorozuya Gin-chan" in the character section. I did that, because I felt like it was necessary (Since Christine and Sean are staying at the Yorozuya house for the moment). Oh, and Happy Halloween, everybody! :)**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I guess my favorite holiday is my birthday.**

**_Question of the update:_ If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 16! :)**


	17. Make sure you turn the music down

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: I honestly agree about Christine being a little brat. :P**

* * *

**Chapter 17: Make sure you turn the music down; otherwise you won't concentrate on school work**

About a half an hour passed since the Yorozuya, Sean and Christine entered the dance club, titled "Rave-A-Thon". So far, Christine danced her ass off, while Sean stood next to a wall. He barely danced, but that was because he was mortified about people seeing him. The last thing he wanted was people laughing at him again. Of course, the only reason why he came in the first place was because he was practically forced to go. If Tae talked to them about the dance club before she bought the tickets, then Sean – plus Gintoki, since he claimed that he didn't like to dance – would choose not to go.

Sean leaned his back against the wall as he crossed his arms. He stood beside a fan, and cool air blew in his face as he closed his eyes. Tae was right. There were fans in this building. The only problem was that Sean would have to be about two feet in front of it in order to actually feel the fan blowing in his face. This place was filled with dozens of people, after all.

Somehow, Sean could smell sweat. He scrunched up his nose, and stuck his tongue out as he thought, _Yuck! I can smell sweat!_

He unfolded his arms, and decided to step outside for some fresh air. He walked towards the double-doors, and the moment he stood in front of it, he grabbed one of the handles, and pulled the door open. But he just remembered that the guard was standing by the doors.

The guard noticed him; he arched a brow up while asking, "Are you leaving?"

Sean shook his head, "No, I just need some fresh air."

"Then you can't step outside."

"Wait, what?" He gawked at him.

The guard clarified as he pulled his sunglasses off, "You can't step outside this building until you actually leave. Those are the boss' orders."

"Is your boss the owner of this club?" Sean curiously asked.

"Yes."

Sean heavily sighed, "Never mind, then." He closed the door, going back inside the club. Sean knitted his brows, and mumbled under his breath, "So much for getting some fresh air."

All of a sudden, he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Sean perked up, and turned around, only to see Gintoki. Gintoki sweated like a pig, and a frown was plastered on his face; one of his silver brows twitched uncontrollably.

Gintoki asked, "Were you trying to escape, too?"

The younger man quirked a brow up, "Actually, I was going to step out, just to get some fresh air, but the guard wouldn't let me do that. Were _you_ trying to leave this place?"

Gintoki admitted, "I was, as a matter of fact. I wanted to leave, because as I mentioned earlier, I don't dance. I tried escaping, but Otae caught me."

Sean frowned; although he didn't want to ask, he did, anyway, "Did she threaten you again?"

"You could say that, though she only gave me one of her evil smiles." Gintoki realized something; he added, "I feel like we have one thing in common."

"Hm?"

"We both don't like to dance," Gintoki smirked in amusement.

Sean also came to a realization, and he chuckled, "You know, you're right. But there's another thing we have in common."

"What's that?"

"We're utterly annoyed by my sister's behavior."

"Isn't Shinpachi annoyed by her attitude as well?"

"Apparently not, though I'm fairly certain Shinpachi-san wants Christiko to stop acting like a total brat."

"Tch, this is why you two are only my acquaintances," He murmured, but Sean heard him, despite the loud music playing.

Sean furrowed a brow, and replied, "I'm not like my sister."

"I never said you were."

"Then why're you calling me your acquaintance?"

"Because you're too obsessed with your book."

"Wha- you're being nonsensical now!" Sean cried. He pulled his book from his pants, and held it in front of Gintoki's face as he added, "My book is _special_ to me!"

Gintoki stared at the book – which was really close to touching his nose – and frowned, "Shojaro, you don't need to have that thing in front of my face."

Sean scoffed, but didn't say a word. Instead, he turned around, and walked away from the silver-headed samurai. Gintoki rolled his eyes, and grumbled, "Kids."

Meanwhile, Christine finished her can of sprite. She tossed it into a garbage can, and she heaved a sigh before deciding, "I wanna dance with Kagura-chan."

She walked through the club, trying to find the redheaded Yato. Christine turned her head in both directions, and when the pale-skinned girl was nowhere to be found, a frown ceased Christine's brow. Where could Kagura be? She had to be here somewhere. Did she leave or something?

Christine placed a hand on her forehead, and thought, _Where's Kagura-chan? I know she's still in this building!_

She puffed her cheeks up, but she suddenly saw Kagura going up the stairs. Christine widened her eyes, and exclaimed, "Oi, Kagura-chan! Wait for me!" She was aware that Kagura couldn't hear her, due to how loud the music was, but Christine couldn't care less. She wanted to dance with Kagura, that's all.

The girl dashed towards the stairs, and when she stood in front of it, she noticed that Kagura was talking to a woman, who was wearing a somewhat revealing outfit. Kagura pointed at the woman, and commanded, "You should wear something that won't show your boobs, uh-huh."

The woman scoffed, "How dare you! My breasts are _not_ showing!"

"Oh? Then how come I can see one of your nipples sticking out?" Kagura snickered as she squinted her cerulean eyes.

The angry woman flushed, and she screeched, "Y-You're just trying to piss m-me off!"

"No, no," The Yato shook her head. "I can totally see your nipple. You really need to put on some more clothes, uh-huh."

"Ugh!" The woman sprinted down the stairs, and when she was at the bottom of the staircase, she pushed Christine out of the way.

Christine snarled, "Hey, you bitch!" The pissed-off woman paid no mind to her; Christine let out a sigh, and made her way up the stairs.

In a matter of seconds, she was at the top, and the girl stood next to Kagura. Kagura, for no reason, picked her nose, and asked in a bored tone, "What do you want, weirdo girl?"

Christine responded, "I was looking for you."

"Why?"

"I wanted to dance with you."

"I don't dance with flat-chested people like you, uh-huh."

Christine's mouth ajar, and she yelled, "I'm used to being called 'flat-chested', but _that_ was harsh!"

Kagura eventually stopped picking the boogers in her nostrils; she replied, "So? I'm still not going to dance with you, nope."

"Kagura-chan, I love you, but why do you have to be so mean to me?!"

Kagura gawked at the girl; Christine realized that she blurted out her love for her. She hurriedly "corrected" herself, "I-I meant that I only love you as a friend!"

The younger girl snorted, "Puh-lease! You're more of an accountancy than a friend, uh-huh!"

Christine arched a brow, "Don't you mean acquaintance?"

"That's what I said," Kagura stated, even though she actually used the wrong word. "Aquarium."

Christine rolled her eyes, but decided not to correct her again. She was relieved that Kagura didn't find out the truth about her love for her; she didn't want to creep her out. If Kagura found out, then she would most likely call her a psycho, and try to stay far away from her. For the truth, Christine knew she was insane for having a gay crush on the female Yato.

The girl replied, "Anyway, if you don't want to dance with me, can we at least talk?"

Kagura contemplated for a moment before heaving a sigh, "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

Christine was about to answer 'My past', but she remembered that she wasn't from this world. Since she and Sean weren't going to tell the Yorozuya the truth about their real names and life for now, she couldn't explain to Kagura what she did in the past. It was hard enough for her and her brother to lie about it. Honestly, Christine didn't want to lie to the Yorozuya in the first place, but because they were from America, and not from Japan, they had no choice. Hopefully, though, the Yorozuya would understand why they didn't tell them when they first met.

But Kagura asked, as if she had read her mind, "Oh, I just remembered something. While you and grumpy were arguing earlier, he mentioned something about your mom, uh-huh."

Christine gasped, and stared at her with wide eyes. Before she could reply, Kagura added, "Did you loathe your mother or something?"

The older girl tilted her head, and murmured, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Just…please don't mention anything about my mother…"

Kagura frowned, but sighed once again, "Whatever."

Christine changed the subject, "Kagura-chan, do you…hate me?"

"Well, you're more bratty than I am," Kagura admitted, "but I don't exactly hate you. And the reason why I don't hate you is because you're pretty blunt, uh-huh."

"I'm blunt?"

"Yeah. You sometimes piss Gin-chan off, like I do. You also say inappropriate stuff without any hesitation, uh-huh."

"That's why you don't hate me?"

"Yep. But just remember that you're not entirely my friend."

Christine softly chuckled, "Sure."

Kagura looked down the staircase, and saw Gintoki having a conversation with Sean. Kagura arched a red brow, and questioned, "Oi, flat-chest. Why is your grumpy brother talking to Gin-chan?"

Christine also noticed, but replied, "Because he can? Why? Is that bad?"

"Of course not. It's just that Gin-chan doesn't like grumpy very much, uh-huh."

"How do you know, though? Just because they don't get along well, doesn't mean Gintoki-san doesn't like him."

"You don't know that."

"You're right, I don't," Christine confirmed, shrugging her shoulders.

Just then, they heard a voice from behind them.

"What're you two doing up here?"

Both Kagura and Christine glanced at the person speaking to them. It was a man, along with a woman, who had her arms around his'. The man had jet-black hair; the woman had the same hair color, only her hair was in a side ponytail.

Christine responded to the man, "I saw my…_acquaintance_ up here, so I decided to come get her." Then something clicked her mind. She questioned, "Say, are you the owner of this club?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," The owner smiled. "And this woman beside me is my wife."

The woman beside him ordered, "Okay, now that you know who the owner is, go back to dancing. You're not allowed up here."

Christine and Kagura frowned, and Christine pointed out, "If we're not allowed up here, then why didn't you put a sign downstairs?"

The woman paused; Christine continued, "You could've put a sign there, saying, 'Employee's only' or 'No visitors allowed'."

Kagura tapped the top of her forefinger on her chin, and agreed, "You know, weirdo girl's got a point there."

The owners' wife scoffed, "You still shouldn't have come up here! Now leave!"

Now it was the owners' turn to frown. He told her, "Dear, you shouldn't speak to our visitors like that." He turned to the teenage girls, and apologized, "Sorry for my wife's rude behavior."

"No, it's alright," Christine said, glaring at the woman. "We were going to leave, anyway."

The girls were about to head back downstairs, but the owner halted them, "Wait."

"What?" They asked at the same time.

"Would you two like to come into my office?"

"What for?" Christine gave him a suspicious look.

"I just want to show you around."

They didn't understand why he would want to show his office, but they both shrugged, and Kagura answered, "Okay, then."

The owner smiled again, "Alright. Follow me." He realized that his wife was still holding onto his arm. One of his brows furrowed, and he politely asked, "Sweetie, could you let go of my arm for now? I can't walk properly with you clinging onto me."

She deeply frowned, but slowly nodded, and let go of his arm. The owner and his wife turned around, and headed for his office. Kagura and Christine followed; the redheaded Yato whispered, "Weirdo girl, do you think this dude will try to kill us?"

Christine was about to respond, but the owner heard Kagura, and he informed her, "Why would I try to kill you? I don't kill people. Heck, I don't even have a weapon."

"Hm…" Kagura hummed, picking her nose yet again.

The two of them entered his office. The owner closed the door, blocking out the loud music from the club itself. Inside the office contained two black-leathered couches, a desk with a rolling chair, light-blue walls, and a brown carpet. There were also three pictures hanging on the walls.

Kagura and Christine sat down on one couch while the owner and his wife sat in the other. For some reason, the woman gave the teenagers a harsh glare. Kagura confusingly gawked at the woman, and she exclaimed, "What the hell's your problem, lady?!"

The owner saw his wife's expression, and he sighed, "Dear, if you're going to glare at them like that, then please leave the office."

"Huh?!" She hollered. "This is my office, too!"

"Yes, but you're being very rude to these visitors!" He faced the girls, "Once again, I'm very sorry, you two. She's a little…overprotective."

Christine rolled her eyes, and mumbled, "Why am I not surprised?"

The woman huffed, and stomped out of the office. She slammed the door closed, and went downstairs.

Silence filled the office, and the girls looked at the owner, as if expecting him to speak. However, Kagura broke the silence, "Tch, that lady needs to learn to respect her visitors!"

"You shouldn't be talking, Kagura-chan," Christine said. "You ordered my brother and I to leave Gintoki's house when we first met you."

Kagura pouted, "That's because you didn't have a job for us to do!"

The owner interjected, "Will you two please stop arguing?"

"We weren't arguing," Christine stated.

He rolled his eyes, but changed the topic, "Anyway, my wife will calm down eventually."

Christine crossed her legs, and asked, "When exactly did you marry her?"

"I married her a year and a half ago."

Kagura noticed a small basket of mint candy. She pointed at the basket, "May I have a few pieces of candy?"

"Of course," The owner offered.

Kagura smiled, and grabbed a handful of candy. She tried giving a piece to Christine, but she shook her head. Kagura whispered, "Sweet!" She unwrapped one, and threw it in her mouth.

Christine and the owner paid no mind to the girl, and the man questioned, "So…what do you think of my club?"

"It's nice," The green-eyed female muttered. "I did a few dance moves, but I almost accidentally kicked a woman in the face."

He furrowed his brows, "You need to be more careful next time."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I'll make sure to do that."

**In the main club…**

Shinpachi lost sight of Kagura and Christine. The corners of his lips tugged into a frown, and he scratched his head as he thought, _Where did Kagura-chan and Christiko-san go? They couldn't have gone outside, so where are they?_

"Is something wrong, Shinpachi-san?" Sean asked.

Shinpachi shook his head slowly, and responded, "Nothing's wrong, though…I don't see Kagura-chan or Christiko-san anywhere."

"Do you think they went to the bathroom?" He guessed.

"Come to think of it, they probably have."

Sean gazed in another direction, and saw the staircase, where the girls walked up. Sean cocked a brow up, and guessed again, "Shinpachi-san, perhaps they went up those stairs." He pointed at the staircase; Shinpachi looked at where he was pointing, and saw the flight of stairs as well.

Shinpachi stared, and asked without looking at the older man, "Are you sure?"

"No," He admitted with a slight shrug. "But we can look."

"Are we even allowed to go up there?"

"Well, there's no sign, so I guess we are."

Shinpachi was unsure of this at first, but when Sean headed for the stairs, Shinpachi widened his eyes, and ran towards him.

The boys stepped in front of the stairway, and glanced up, seeing a woman sitting on the top step. Shinpachi and Sean blinked their eyes, and the younger boy asked, "Ma'am, is something the matter?"

The woman peered at the men, and she huffed, "Nothing's the matter."

"You look angry," Sean pointed out. "_Something_ must be bothering you."

She scoffed, "Two brats went into my husband's office, and my husband kicked me out!"

"Wait, is your husband the owner of this place?" Shinpachi realized.

"Yeah, but he's showing those kids his office. And what's worse is that he kicked me out!"

"Were you being rude to them?" Sean suspiciously asked.

The woman hesitated for a moment before crossing her arms, "P-Perhaps."

Sean rolled his emerald eyes, and began to walk up the stairs, "Anyway, I'm going to see if my sister's up there."

Shinpachi, once again, followed, but noticed that the woman wasn't moving an inch. Shinpachi suggested, "Miss, will you please move?"

The woman scowled, "Why should I?"

Sean knitted his brown brows; he couldn't understand why this woman was being so rude to them. She didn't know them, so she couldn't have hated them already. Perhaps this woman had a short-temper, like Sean, only it was worse. Or maybe she was just a spoiled bitch.

Sean replied, trying to be as calm as possible, "Listen, ma'am, I know you're upset about your husband kicking you out of his office, but you have no reason to be angry with us. Now will you please scoot over?"

She snapped, "His office is mine too, so no!"

"Oh, for the love of god," He groaned in frustration.

_This woman's worse than Christine!_

The man laced his fingers through his short hair, and he murmured, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to have to _force_ you to move."

"Eh?" She gawped.

Sean grabbed her arms, and pulled her up, forcing her to get off the step. She exclaimed, "Hey! Are you trying to assault me?!"

"I don't see how this is assaulting you, but you really needed to move." He let go of the woman, and he walked passed her. Shinpachi passed the woman as well, but didn't bother looking at her.

The boys saw a door, and Shinpachi figured, "That must be where the girls are."

They dashed towards the door, and the moment they stood in front of it, Sean grabbed the handle, twisted it, and pushed the door open. There, he saw Christine and Kagura sitting in a couch. He also noticed the owner.

Sean sighed, "There you are, Christiko."

Christine raised a brow, "Were you just looking for me?"

"Yes."

Christine half-smiled, "Guess I should've told you where I was going."

"Is that the owner?" He pointed at the black-haired man.

Kagura spoke up before Christine did, "It is. He's not a bad person, nope. His wife, though, is a bitch."

The owner glared at the Yato, "Young lady, please don't call my wife that. Sure, she's rude, but she's not…what you said."

Christine and Kagura stood up, and headed for the door. Christine said in a flat tone, "Thanks for letting us chat with you." She and Kagura stepped out of the office; after that, Sean closed the door.

As the four of them went down the flight of stairs, Shinpachi asked, "What was his office like?"

Kagura shrugged, "It was pretty boring, uh-huh."

The owners' wife glared at their backs, and she stormed back into the office. She snarled as she closed the door, "I can't believe you kicked me out!"

He rolled his eyes, "If you hadn't been so rude to those kids, I would've let you stay."

"Tch," Was all she said.

**Two hours later…**

"Oi, I think we should get going," Gintoki said as he wiped some of the sweat off of his forehead.

"I agree," Sean replied.

The Yorozuya and the siblings were exhausted from so much dancing. Actually, the only people who did dance were Christine, Kagura, and Shinpachi. Gintoki and Sean, on the other hand, were apparently forced to dance with them. Sean was utterly mortified while trying to dance, because he didn't want to end up humiliating himself again. But now that they were about to leave, he had hoped that he would never dance in public again.

Tae and Oryou were about to leave as well, but all of a sudden, they heard an annoying laugh coming after them. Oryou groaned, "Please don't tell me it's who I think it is."

As if on cue, a man with brown perm hair charged towards Oryou. He cheered, "Marry me, Oryou~!"

Oryou quickly lifted her leg up, and kicked him in the nuts. She exclaimed in English, "No, thank you!"

The man fell on the ground, and despite his sore nuts, he continued laughing.

Gintoki groaned, too, but grumbled, "Oh, god, it's Sakamoto Tatsuma."

Christine perked up, "Sakamoto Tatsuma?! I wanna meet him!" Gintoki was about to say no, but Christine dashed towards the brown-haired man.

She pushed a few people out of the way until she spotted the man. A smile was plastered on her face, and the second she stood in front of him, she crouched down, and greeted him, "Hello."

Tatsuma peered up, and greeted back as he tried getting up, "Hello, pretty girl! Would you like to play with me?"

"I can't. I'm only 16," Christine giggled.

Sean grabbed her arm, and ordered, "Come on, we need to get going."

She frowned, but gave out a sigh, "Fine." She straightened herself up, and bade goodbye to Tatsuma, "We'll introduce ourselves another time."

"Okay! Ahahahahaha!" Tatsuma laughed.

Christine and Sean finally left, along with the Yorozuya, Tae, and Oryou. The guard said, "Have a nice night."

Everyone exited the building, and as soon as they felt the wind hitting their faces, Sean and Gintoki heavily sighed in relief. Gintoki exclaimed, "Fresh air! I'm so happy!"

Sean touched his cheeks, and weakly smiled, "I'm happy, too, Gintoki-san."

The others rolled their eyes. Tae said, "Well, I better get home. Good-night, everyone." She waved at them, and headed for home.

Shinpachi was about to follow his older sister, but Christine rested a hand on his shoulder. Shinpachi peered at the girl over his shoulder, and asked, "Yes?"

Christine narrowed her emerald eyes, "Shinpachi-san…I've been thinking about something…"

"What is it?"

"Why do you consider me your friend?"

Shinpachi widened his eyes in surprise. "Wh-Why're you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Because I've been a complete brat to my brother and Gintoki-san." She bit on her lower lip as she turned her head to the side.

A sigh escaped the boy's lips, and he explained, "I consider you as a friend, because you're not a completely rude person, and you're brave."

"Eh?" She stared at the taller teenager in slight bafflement.

Shinpachi heartily chuckled, "What I mean is that although you have said some rude things to some people, you're not _that_ mean."

"Okay…and how am I brave?"

"Well, remember the time you had to rescue Shojaro-san from the Kiheitai ship?"

Christine slowly answered, "Yes…"

"Back then, I thought you were really brave. You nearly risked your life rescuing him."

She smirked, remembering the time she had to save Sean, "Yeah."

"Anyway, I have to get home as well. I'll see you tomorrow, Christiko-san."

"See ya," She whispered as Shinpachi walked behind Tae.

Christine glanced over at Gintoki, who was smiling like a goofball. She slowly headed towards the silver-haired man, and said his name quietly, "Gintoki-san…"

The smile on Gintoki's face vanished; he gazed at the girl, and lifted a brow, "What?"

"I want to apologize for threatening you earlier."

"You mean that threat, when you were about to hit me on the head with that plate?"

"Yeah…I'm sorry for that. I just got a bit angry, that's all."

"Not surprised," He rolled his dead-fished eyes.

Christine sighed while averting her gaze away from him, "My brother's right. I really do have a bad attitude."

"Why do you have it, then?" That question didn't make much sense, but he didn't know how else to put it.

The 16-year-old girl rubbed her forehead as she responded, "I can't help myself, apparently."

"Hm…by the way, why did he suddenly bring up your mother? Did you hate her before she died?"

Christine snorted, "Kagura-chan asked me the same thing. But, I'd rather not talk about my mom."

Gintoki frowned, but sighed almost inaudibly, "Whatever."

They – plus Sean and Kagura – began walking back to the Yorozuya house. Christine stayed silent, and stared at the ground as she twirled some of her hair.

She thought, _I really do miss my mom._

* * *

**I _will _write about Christine's past sometime in this story. Just thought I'd let you know that.**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ Jambalaya alligator. It's too freaking delicious.**

**_Question of the update:_ Would you prefer short hair or long hair?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 17! :)**


	18. Taking other peoples' clothes is not

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: Book-san is apparently Sean's best friend. XD**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Taking other peoples' clothes is not your top priority**

The next morning came. Sean and Christine groaned a bit when they noticed that the sun was shining in their eyes. Sean was the first to wake up; Christine, however, chose to sleep in. She put her pillow over her head, and grumbled unconsciously, "Just give me two more hours."

Sean stretched his arms out, but when he opened his eyes, he didn't see his kimono sleeves. He murmured, "Huh?"

At first, he thought his sleeves went down to his shoulders. Sean glanced at his shoulders, but found out that they were bare. The corner of his lips tugged down, and he thought, _When did I take off my kimono top?_

He rubbed his eyes, and slowly sat up. Sean let the blanket slide down his chest, and he was about to pull it off, until he realized that he also wasn't wearing his pants. Sean's jaw dropped; he had to urge to yell, 'Did I actually take off my clothes?!', but he whispered, "Okay, calm down, Sean. I'm sure your Japanese clothes are in the closet. I don't remember if I took them off last night, but they _must_ in the closet."

The man wrapped the blanket around his lower body, and he hopped off the couch before heading over to the closet. Christine continued grumbling as she turned her body around, "Why do I feel cold all of a sudden?" She touched her arms, but didn't feel her kimono sleeves.

Sean ignored her, though, and opened up the closet, seeing Kagura sleeping. The second he saw her, he noticed that she, too, wasn't wearing any clothes. The blanket covered most of her body, thankfully, yet Sean had a horrified look on his face. He glanced at the top shelf, seeing nothing but blankets. He didn't even see his modern clothes.

When the clothes were nowhere to be seen, Sean exclaimed, "Where did our clothes go?!" He accidentally dropped his blanket; Sean looked down, realizing that even his _boxers_ weren't on. Sean gasped, and hurriedly wrapped the blanket around him again. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment, and he muttered through clenched teeth, "Alright, now I'm certain I didn't take my clothes _and_ boxers off last night!"

Christine finally woke up, but asked as if Sean was out of his mind, "What're you talking about, bro? Are you saying you're naked?"

"Yes!" He cried out.

Christine perked up, "Seriously?!" She nearly snatched the blanket off, but saw no clothing – including her bra and underwear – on her body. The girl yelped, and immediately pulled the blanket back on. She was lucky that her brother didn't see her. Her cheeks flushed as well, but Sean was apparently more embarrassed, because he dashed into the bathroom.

He slammed the door closed, and locked it. Kagura groaned, and questioned as she wiped some drool from her mouth, "What's grumpy's problem?"

Christine gave her a sideways glance, and practically yelled, "Our clothes have apparently been stolen!"

"Wait, what do you mean they've been 'stolen'?"

The older girl rolled her eyes, "Kagura-chan, look at your chest."

"Eh?" Kagura gazed down at her chest, but the second she did that, she widened her eyes in disbelief. Kagura thought she was imagining things, so she rubbed her eyes. But that didn't help, because she still saw her flesh. She furrowed a red brow, and asked, "Where the hell did my clothes go?"

"That's what I was asking!" Christine snapped as she stood up from the couch. She tugged part of the blanket around her chest, making it look like a sleeveless dress. Christine added in a mutter, "At least I'm still wearing my socks."

Gintoki suddenly opened his bedroom door, and screamed, "Where're my clothes?!" He had a tall box covering his junk.

Sean screamed back as he left the bathroom, "I have no idea! I _just_ found out that our clothes are missing! And where the heck did you get that box?!"

Gintoki snapped his fingers, completely ignoring his question, "I need to turn on the news!" Right after that, he grabbed the remote, and turned on the television. The news began, and the first thing they saw was, of course, the news cast. But, they had no clothes on as well. Gintoki yelled, "Even _their_ clothes are missing!"

The man on the news informed, "This just in. A mad man/woman has stolen all the clothes in Edo."

Christine face-palmed herself, "Great! Just fucking _great_!"

The newsman continued, "This thief has stolen every piece of clothing from homes, and even clothes' stores. The Shinsengumi will try to track down this man/woman; unfortunately, though, their clothes are also missing."

Gintoki laughed, "Hahahahahaha!"

Sean frowned, "Gintoki-san, it isn't that funny."

"The Shinsengumi have to find the thief _naked_; that's why it's funny! Hahahahahaha!"

"Gintoki-san," Christine spoke up. "We should find our clothes, too."

"Come again?" Gintoki stopped laughing.

"I want to beat the person who stole not only my green kimono, but also my other clothes!" She clenched her fist, and raised it in the air as she added, "I'm gonna kill that clothes-stealing bastard!"

Kagura agreed, "Yeah! That dude or bitch is going to pay, uh-huh!"

Everyone looked at Kagura, and saw that she was cosplaying as Kagamine Rin from Vocaloid. Gintoki shouted, "Okay, where did you get that outfit?!"

She shrugged, "I found it under the blankets. The clothes-thief apparently didn't find it, nope."

"Hold on, when did that outfit get there…? Never mind! At least you won't have to walk around naked! Otherwise people will mistake me for a lolicon!"

"Lolicon?" Sean repeated with a furrowed brow.

Christine briefly explained, "It means people who're into little children."

He held a disgusted expression, "That's disgusting. But wait, isn't Kagura-chan a teenager as well?"

"She is, but barely."

"Oh."

"Anyway," Kagura said while adjusting the shorts she was wearing. "Weirdo girl's right. We need to find our clothes; I'm not going to let those Shinsengumi bastards find _my_ clothes. I wanna find them on my own, uh-huh!"

The silver-haired man realized something; he exclaimed, "But wait a minute…if the thief has stolen _every_ piece of clothing in Edo, that means…old hag and cat lady are naked, too!" Gintoki gripped his hair, and screamed in utter shock, "Oh, my god! I don't want to see _those two_ naked! I'll be scarred for life!"

Sean, Kagura, and Christine rolled their eyes. Sean told him, "Calm down, Gintoki-san. I'm fairly certain they don't want to see you naked as well. Heck, I'm sure they don't even want to go out in _public_ while being exposed."

Gintoki sighed, "Maybe not, but what if I got into that old hag's bar, and accidentally saw her naked?! My eyes would be bleeding, that's for sure!"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, and groaned, "You are _so_ difficult sometimes."

Christine asked her older brother, "By the way, bro, why were you in the bathroom?"

Sean scratched the back of his neck, and responded, "I was seeing if our clothes were in there. But they weren't, obviously."

"Don't worry, Shojaro," She smirked. "We'll find our clothes in no time."

"That's easier said than done," He murmured.

**Ten minutes later…**

Gintoki, Kagura, Sean, and Christine managed to get to the Shimura house, but while they were on their way over there, they realized that nobody else was in the streets. They understood why, though, because nobody would want to go outside naked, even if they were wrapped in a towel or a blanket. Well, these four were apparently the only people who were bold enough to go out in the streets without any piece of clothing on (Of course, Kagura was still wearing that Vocaloid outfit, but still).

Sean softly knocked on the door, and they waited for somebody to open a door.

A minute passed; no answer.

Another minute passed; still no answer.

Everyone frowned, and without warning, Gintoki slammed his fists on the door, yelling, "Oi! Is anybody even home?!"

"Gintoki-san!" Christine yowled, causing Gintoki to stop slamming on the paper door. "They probably want to answer, but they're too self-conscious, because they're…well, you get the idea."

Though she said that, they could hear Shinpachi yelling from inside the house, "Hold on a second!"

Footsteps were approaching the door, in within seconds, it was opened. The group of four saw Shinpachi, who had a towel wrapped around his lower body. Shinpachi widened his eyes, and asked, "Your clothes have been stolen, too?" He noticed Kagura's cosplay outfit. He frowned, "Kagura-chan, where did you get that outfit?"

"I asked the same question," Gintoki admitted. "But that's not important! Shinpachi, did you see the news?"

"I have," Shinpachi sighed. "Gin-san, do you have any idea where this thief is?"

"Who knows? Maybe this thief is homeless. That must be the reason why he or she took all the clothes in this city."

"If that's true, then that's a stupid reason," Christine snorted with slight irritation. She was irritated, because she was desperate to kick that thief's ass. That crook took everybody's clothes, including hers! How dare they do that! Christine couldn't wait to punch the living crap out of him/her.

Sean didn't like violence, but honestly, he also wanted to beat up that "criminal". He was furious when he couldn't find his clothes, and not only that, but he was extremely embarrassed of only "wearing" a freaking blanket! Sure, he wasn't _totally_ exposed, but that wasn't saying much! He wanted and needed to wear clothes, dammit! He didn't want to show off _this_ much skin!

Sean chose to ask the teenage boy, "Is your sister in your room?"

Shinpachi answered, "She is. She wants to kill the clothes-thief, but she's too self-conscious to go out."

"I don't blame her. I didn't want to go out as well, but I desperately wanted to find my clothes, so…yeah."

"Did the crook steal your other clothes?"

"Yes."

Shinpachi ran his fingers through his black hair, and replied, "Anyway, we should probably start looking for that crook now."

"Right!" Both Kagura and Christine chimed in. "Let's go!"

Shinpachi called out to his sister, "I'm heading out, sis!"

She called back from her bedroom, "Shin-chan, will you kill that thief for me?"

"I'll try."

He put on his sandals, and stepped outside of his house. He gave his friends a brief nod, and the whole group started running in the streets. Shinpachi ordered, "Make sure you're not fully exposed."

Sean gave him a cracked smile, "I'm trying not to get arrested for indecent exposure."

Christine pointed out, "But Shojaro, the Shinsengumi are naked, too."

"I know, but I still don't want to get arrested."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm sure we won't get arrested."

Sean wanted to believe her, but he was really concerned about getting arrested, since he was nearly naked. Christine wasn't worried that much, but she was just as embarrassed as her brother.

The group looked around, trying to find the clothes-thief. The first place they decided to go to was an abandoned house.

They entered the worn-out house, but when Gintoki tried opening the door, the door almost instantly broke. Gintoki stared at the broken door blankly; then shrugged his shoulders before tossing it in a random direction. He and the others entered the house, expecting to see the crook. Unfortunately, nobody was in here.

Gintoki frowned, "Dammit, the thief isn't in here! Guess I broke the door for nothing…"

Just then, they saw a closet door opening. Everyone widened their eyes, and Christine exclaimed as she pointed at the closet, "Is it the crook?!"

"I'm not a crook, I'm Katsura," Katsura Kotaro corrected her as he walked out of the closet. He, like Gintoki, had a box covering his lower part, only it was taller.

Gintoki arched a brow, and asked, "Zura, what do you think you're doing?"

Kotaro responded while folding his arms, "I was seeing if my clothes were in this house. But unfortunately, they're not."

Elizabeth also came out of the closet. "She" lifted up a sign, written out, 'Are you trying to find the clothes-thief, too?'

Sean blinked multiple times, and whispered to his younger sister, "What's that thing beside Katsura-san?"

Christine whispered back, "That's Elizabeth, Katsura's companion. People believe it's a man under a costume, but Katsura think's Elizabeth's a woman."

"What makes people think it's a man?"

"Elizabeth has hairy legs."

Sean widened his eyes, and remained silent.

Shinpachi responded to Elizabeth, "We are, Elizabeth-san."

Gintoki questioned, "Eh? How come Elizabeth isn't naked? Did the thief forget to steal 'her' costume?"

Kotaro glared at the samurai, and pointed out, "This isn't a costume! This is her actual body!"

Gintoki rolled his red eyes, "Whatever."

Sean informed Kotaro, "Katsura-san, the Shinsengumi are going to try to find the crook."

"Is that so?" Kotaro questioned.

"Yes, but _I_ want to find my clothes. After that, I'll beat the crud out of that thief."

Christine quirked a brow up, and smirked, "Bro, I thought you didn't like violence."

"I don't; in fact, I'm _against_ it. However, I'm infuriated by this burglars' action, so when I get my hands on him/her…I'll…I'll…!" He formed his hand into a fist, and somehow, he couldn't complete his sentence.

A drop of sweat trickled down Christine's cheek, and she tried calming him down by saying, "Whoa, whoa, hold it there, Shojaro. I don't want you to take out your anger just yet."

Sean didn't exactly calm down, but he took deep breaths. Gintoki, though, decided to ask, "If you're against violence, then why did you get yourself a tanto?"

Sean responded without any hesitation, "I got it, because I want to defend myself. In case anybody tries to hurt me, I'll pull my tanto out, and warn them that if they try to harm me, I'll cut them."

Shinpachi said, "Come on, we still have to find the burglar."

"Right," Sean murmured.

The group dashed out of the house; seconds later, they noticed that Kotaro and Elizabeth were following them. Christine grinned, "You're following us?"

"We want to find the thief, too," Kotaro replied a matter-of-factly.

"What're you going to do when you find them, though? Beat them until they're unconscious? Because that's what me and Kagura-chan are going to do."

He shook his head, "Actually, I'm going to politely ask them to hand me my clothes back."

The green-eyed girl laughed, "I don't think asking them will do you any good!"

"I'm going to do it, anyway."

She rolled her eyes; Shinpachi grabbed her forearm, and told her, "I think I spotted the thief."

"You did?" She raised her brows in surprise.

Shinpachi nodded as he pointed in an alleyway, "I noticed something moving in that alleyway."

"Well, what're we waiting for?!" Kagura asked rhetorically. "Let's kill them!"

Without alarming them, she sprinted into the alleyway. Shinpachi snapped his eyes wide, and yelled, "Kagura-chan! At least wait for us!" The boy also sprinted, along with the rest of the group.

When they entered the alleyway, however, they didn't see the clothes-thief. Instead, they saw Kondo Isao grabbing a torn-up box from the ground. He furrowed his brows, and grumbled, "I can't let anyone see my hairy butt cheeks. They'll laugh at me."

Gintoki spoke up, "Oi."

Isao yelped, and put the box over his crotch. He faced the group, and weakly smiled, "Y-Yorozuya! How're you doing?!" Apparently, he didn't notice that Kotaro and Elizabeth were right behind the Yorozuya.

Sean and Shinpachi frowned; Sean questioned, "Kondo-san, did you just comment on your buttocks?"

Isao rubbed the back of his neck, and responded as his cheeks flushed, "Erm…yes."

"Are they actually hairy?" Christine piped up.

Shinpachi whispered, "Christiko-san, I don't think you want to know."

But it was already too late; Isao answered Christine's question, "As a matter of fact, they are."

Shinpachi face-palmed himself, while Sean scrunched up his face in disgust. He grumbled, "Okay, I did _not_ want to know that."

Isao took a few steps in front of them, but the group stepped back, not wanting to be too close to the hairy-butt Shinsengumi chief. Isao gave them a somewhat sad expression, and asked, "Why're stepping away from me? I'm not a wild animal."

"Gorillas are wild animals, uh-huh," Kagura replied.

The man's frown deepened, "I'm not a gorilla…"

Christine thought, _Wow…he didn't yell about not being a gorilla this time. How surprising._

Shinpachi asked, "Kondo-san, are the Shinsengumi looking for the thief right now?"

"They are," Isao answered. "But they're having a difficult time covering their…you know."

"What do you mean by that?" Sean raised a brow.

"They've wrapped towels around themselves, but whenever they try to run, the towels seemed to fall off."

A frown ceased Sean's brow, but he sighed, "Well, we're going to try to find our outfits, so we'll see you later."

Sean, Christine, and the rest of the group started walking away from Isao, but the man halted, "Wait!"

"What?" Gintoki stared at the Shinsengumi chief.

The only person Isao was looking at was Christine. Christine blinked, wondering why he was glancing at her. Isao gave her a goofy smile, and enquired while pointing at the blanket around her body, "Young lady, where did you get that _fabulous_ dress?"

"Huh?" She gawped. Christine looked at the blanket she was "wearing", and felt her lips tug into a frown. Why did Isao think it was a dress? If it was a dress, it would've been stolen by now; she'd be completely naked. Apparently, the blanket was wrapped around her otherwise nude body so nicely, that it looked perfectly like an evening dress.

Sean corrected, "Uh, Kondo-san, that's a blanket."

Isao ignored the brunette, and crouched down before feeling the edge of Christine's blanket. He held his chin, and smiled, "This would look perfect on Otae-chan."

A vein throbbed in Christine's cheek, and with no warning whatsoever, she kicked him in the face. Isao grunted in pain, and his body fell on the ground as he covered his now-swollen face. The box he held somehow flew off to the side, and though he kicked his legs up, he was exposed.

Shinpachi quickly covered Kagura's eyes as the others just stared at the man. Isao muffled in his hands, "My face! My beautiful face!"

Christine scowled, "It wasn't a dress, you pervert." Without sparing even a millisecond, she walked away.

Sean mumbled, "I'm going to regret saying this, but he kind of deserved that." Shinpachi glared at the 19-year-old man. Sean raised his hands up, and added, "Just saying."

Shinpachi rolled his eyes as he followed Christine.

**An hour later…**

For the past hour, they _still_ hadn't found the clothes-thief.

Gintoki, Sean, and Christine all gritted their teeth in frustration, and Gintoki yanked on his own hair as he yelled out, "I swear, the longer it takes to find this bastard, the angrier I become!"

"I feel like I'm about to turn into she-hulk!" Christine growled, staring at her hands as if she was about to turn green.

If Sean wasn't this angry, he would've rolled his eyes, and say to his sister, 'You can't turn into she-hulk. It's impossible'. But he was so furious, that he didn't even pay attention to what Christine said. So instead of replying to her, he grabbed a random garbage can, and shouted, "I want to break something!" He violently threw the can at Gintoki (Though it wasn't on purpose), but luckily, Gintoki noticed this, and dodged it. The garbage tin can hit a pole; then landed on the ground. The lid fell off of the can, making garbage spill. Sean paid no mind to it, though; he wasn't over his anger, and neither were Gintoki and Christine.

Sean slammed his head into a wall of a house, and snarled, "I don't think I've ever been this angry since I lost my old book when I was a kid!"

Shinpachi grabbed the back of his shoulders, and yelled as he pulled him away from the house, "Shojaro-san, stop hitting your head on that house! You'll cause yourself brain damage!" When he turned him around, he could see blood dripping down Sean's face. Sean was too vexed to care, though. Veins throbbed in his neck as his teeth clenched; based on the expression Sean was having, he looked like he was about to kill someone.

The younger boy slowly pulled himself away as Sean replied with a bit of malice in his tone, "I don't want to get brain damage, Shinpachi-san, but you don't know how _maddened_ I am." He took a step forward, and raised his tone, "We've been looking for this crook for an hour, and we still haven't found _any_ trace of them! And here I am, nearly _exposed_ in _public_! The only reason why I followed you and the others in the first place was because I was anxious to get my outfits back!"

Kagura slapped her hand on the back of Sean's head; Sean yelped, and glared at the female Yato. Kagura insisted, "Calm your tits, grumpy."

"_Calm my tits_?!" He repeated her words. "First of all, I'm a man; I don't _have_ tits! Secondly, I _can't_ calm down, because I'm _this_ close to being in the nude! I should have you know that I'm self-conscious about my body!"

She rolled her sapphire eyes, "Grumpy, you shouldn't be self-conscious."

"Why not?!" He scoffed.

"Because you're a man; you need to toughen up, uh-huh!"

"Just because I'm male, doesn't mean I can't be self-conscious!"

Kagura crossed her arms, "Actually, it does, uh-huh. Look at yourself, grumpy. You're almost as buff as Gin-chan."

Sean's cheeks flushed, and he surprisingly wasn't as angry as before. He averted his gaze away from the girl, and grumbled, "I-I am not."

Christine peered at her older brother's chest, and agreed as she held her chin, "You know, Kagura-chan, you're right! Shojaro really is buff!"

"Christiko!" Sean snapped.

"What? It's true!" Christine defensively replied.

"Guys!" Shinpachi interjected. Everyone looked at the boy, and Shinpachi pointed at something as he exclaimed, "I spotted the clothes-thief!"

"How do you know it's the thief?" Kagura asked.

"The person is carrying tons of clothes!"

She widened her eyes; then smirked, "Watch out thief; I'm gonna beat your ass!"

Christine hollered, "It's beating time~!"

The girls stormed towards the person, who was carrying dozens of outfits, and within seconds, they kicked the person in the back. A yelp escaped his/her lips as she dropped the clothes, and Christine turned her around. But when she did so, she found out that the figure was a woman. Christine wasn't exactly surprised, but she couldn't tell the gender of this person before, because this woman had really short hair. The female thief was also wearing panties and a bra; apparently, Christine didn't see them properly.

Anyway, Christine and Kagura didn't give a crap what gender this crook was. The only thing they cared about was their clothes. Kagura punched the woman in the face as Christine searched for her kimono, and her regular clothes. She mumbled as she tossed random kimonos to the side, "Where the hell are my clothes?!"

The woman yelled, "Ow! Please stop! Please stop!"

"Not until you say uncle!" Kagura demanded. "Say uncle!"

"U-Uncle!" The crook obliged.

Kagura punched her again, "Say uncle!"

"UNCLE!" She screamed.

Christine was able to find Kagura's Chinese out. She exclaimed, "Kagura-chan! I found your outfit!"

Almost immediately, Kagura perked up, and smiled, "Give it to me!"

Christine nodded, and tossed her outfit. Kagura caught it, and said, "I'll be at Gin-chan's house, uh-huh!" No soon after that, she sprinted off, heading back to Gintoki's house.

The burglar groaned, and sat up while rubbing her head in pain. She grunted, "She didn't have to punch me that hard…"

"FOUND YOU!" A man from behind her shouted.

The woman turned around, and saw the Shinsengumi officers. Toshiro, Sougo, and Sagaru had long towels covering their groins, while the rest were "wearing" boxes. Everybody gave her a harsh glare; the woman blinked at them awkwardly, and tugged her lips into a cracked smile. She spoke up, but decided to ask the stupidest question ever, "Um…how're you today?"

Toshiro rolled his gunmetal blue eyes, and grabbed the woman's arms as he said, "You're going to jail. But before we do that, we're putting our clothes back on." The Vice-commander put her hands behind her back before putting the handcuffs on. He forced her to sit on the ground; Toshiro grabbed his Shinsengumi uniform – plus boxers – and started getting dressed in an alleyway.

Christine finally found her outfits, and she yowled, "Finally! Now I won't have to be in this damn blanket!" She carried her clothes in her arms, and also picked up her bra and underwear before dashing off.

Sean, Shinpachi, and Gintoki also spotted their clothes, so they snatched them, and ran back to the Yorozuya house.

Not long later, they returned, seeing Kagura and Christine already dressed. Christine put her modern clothes back in the closet, while Kagura tossed the Kagamine Rin outfit in the garbage.

Gintoki hurriedly walked to the bathroom, and informed the others, "I'm using the bathroom first!"

"What- No, _I'm_ using it first!" Sean cried; he tried to catch up to the silver-haired man, but it was too late. Gintoki had already closed the door behind him, and Sean would've tried barging in if Gintoki hadn't locked the sliding door. He pounded one of his fists on the doorframe, and groaned, "Darn it!"

"Don't worry, bro," Christine reassured. "You'll get your turn soon."

"I hope so," Sean mumbled, but his reply was a tad bit too low for his sister to hear. Christine didn't bother telling him to repeat his comment, though, because she went into the kitchen, getting herself a snack.

Sean heaved a sigh, and thought, _At least I won't have to run outside naked ever again._

* * *

**This was a weird chapter, but...it couldn't be helped. LOL**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ Short hair, because it's easier to take care of.**

**_Question of the update:_ Are you a morning person or a night person?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 18! :)**


	19. Mythical creatures only exist in your

**Enjoy!**

**NightinGem: I'm glad I cheered you up. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Mythical creatures only exist in your imagination**

Two days passed since the clothes-stealing incident. The crook who stole the clothes went to jail, and the Yorozuya, plus Christine and Sean, decided to forget that that incident ever happened.

Gintoki turned on the television, and sat down on the couch as Sean and Shinpachi vacuumed the living room floor. Gintoki turned to the news, but told the younger boys, "Oi, turn that vacuum down. I'm trying to watch the news."

Sean rolled his eyes, "We can't 'turn the vacuum down'. That's impossible. Besides, you only want to watch the news just to look at Ketsuno Ana."

"Never underestimate her!" Gintoki cried out.

Both boys paid no mind to the samurai; they continued vacuuming the floor, and Gintoki glared at them, as if ordering the duo to turn off that sucking machine. They still ignored his expression, but on the T.V., Gintoki could hear a news reporter saying, "There have been rumors about mermaids living in one of the lakes in the forest."

Their eyes widened in surprise, though they were also feeling skeptical about this. Mermaids living in the lake in the forest? That sounded ridiculous. Mermaids didn't exist; they only belonged in fairy tales such as "The Little Mermaid". If mermaids were real, they would've been extremely popular in Edo…perhaps. Anyway, if creatures like those existed, people would have visited them every day, and ride on them as if they were dolphins. Mermaids would then get so exhausted, that they'd swim away from the humans/amanto, and rest.

Shinpachi arched a black brow, and questioned as he turned off the vacuum, "Mermaids? I thought they only existed in fairy tales."

Gintoki snorted with a small smirk, "Shinpachi, they're pretty much real."

"But how do you know? Have you even _seen_ a mermaid before?"

"No," He admitted. "But somebody told me about them a while ago."

Christine and Kagura entered the Yorozuya house; they were each carrying two bags of groceries. About 20 minutes ago, Shinpachi (Politely) ordered them to get some food, because clearly, they were out…literally. But now that the girls have bought some groceries, they might be able to eat food for at least a week, if not more.

Christine asked, "Did we miss anything?"

Sean responded, "We just heard on the news that there might be mermaids in the forest."

The girl instantly dropped her bags of groceries. They fell on the floor, and Christine repeated, but yelled, "Mermaids?!"

Gintoki frowned, "What's your problem, weirdo girl?"

"I _love_ mermaids!" She shrieked as she clasped her hands together.

His frown deepened, but Sean sighed, and explained briefly, "Christiko is a huge fan of mermaids. She believes they exist."

"Yes!" Christine nodded. "I've always wanted to meet a mermaid!"

Shinpachi peered at the excited girl, and asked, "Christiko-san, do you _really_ think creatures like those exist?"

"Of course!" She piped up. "I know they exist, because I've seen lots of videos of them on the internet!"

"How do you know the tails on them aren't fake, though?" He asked another question.

Christine crossed her arms, "The people who upload them claim they're real."

Kagura flatly said, "Flat-chest, you're being trolled, uh-huh."

"Don't say that, Kagura-chan!" The older girl snapped. "I _know_ I wasn't being trolled!" She faced the others, and exclaimed as she raised her hand up in the air, "Everyone, let's go to the forest, and see if those mermaids really are in that lake!"

Kagura contemplated on her words for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, and replying, "I guess I had nothing better to do today." She went into the kitchen, and set the groceries down. Kagura grabbed her sukonbu snack, and began chewing on it.

Christine picked up the bag she dropped, and dashed into the kitchen before setting it on the counter. She then grabbed a small pack of neon worms from the other paper bag; Christine ripped the pack open, and grabbed a gummy worm.

She announced as she plopped the gummy worm in her mouth, "Okay, I'm ready."

Gintoki and Sean rolled their eyes, but Gintoki turned off the T.V., and stood up from the couch as he sighed, "I had nothing better to do today, either, so I guess I'll go. I want to find the mermaids, anyway."

Shinpachi put the vacuum away, and said, "I don't believe in mermaids, but I'm going, just to see if they really do exist."

Kagura suddenly widened her eyes, and exclaimed, "Wait! Before we do that, we need to pick up Sadaharu, uh-huh!"

"Sadaharu?" Sean repeated with a bemused expression.

Shinpachi clarified, "Sadaharu is Kagura-chan's pet."

"Ah."

"But where exactly is Sadaharu?" Christine inquired.

Kagura responded, "He's at the vet, uh-huh."

"Wait, why is he _there_? And how long has he been at the vet?"

"Sadaharu got the stomach flu; he's been there since the day before you and grumpy arrived, uh-huh."

"So he's been there for almost a month?"

"Yep."

Christine sighed, "Alright, let's go pick him up. _Then _we're going to the forest."

**Ten minutes later…**

The Yorozuya and the Wardenhall siblings went into the vet. They stood in front of an office, and Kagura ordered a veterinarian, "Oi, vet guy! Give me back Sadaharu!"

The veterinarian frowned at the Yato, and lifted his hands up as he replied, "Please calm down, young lady. We just need to see if the flu he has is gone."

"Well, hurry up, or I'll go mad, uh-huh!"

A drop of sweat rolled down the man's cheek, and he hesitantly took a step back before going into the room Sadaharu was in. Kagura tapped her foot impatiently, and grumbled, "Sadaharu better be alright, or else I'm going to beat every single vet in this building!"

Sean told her with a quiet sigh, "Please don't do that, Kagura-chan. You'll only get yourself into trouble."

"So? I've been into trouble lots of times, uh-huh!"

He rolled his eyes, but decided to not reply to that comment.

Soon, the veterinarian came out of the room, with Sadaharu beside him. Kagura's eyes sparkled, and she dashed towards the inugami as she yelled out his name, "Sadaharu~!" She wrapped her arms around his neck, and Sadaharu gave out a cheerful bark. It was no doubt that he was happy to see her again. And it was blatant enough that Kagura was ecstatic to see her pet "dog" for the first time in four weeks.

Sadaharu glanced at the Wardenhall siblings; he stared at them in question, and made a barely audible sound, as if wanting to ask the two who they were. Obviously, he had never seen these two kids before.

Kagura was able to understand why Sadaharu looked at Christine and Sean in bafflement. Kagura introduced the siblings to her pet, "Sadaharu, those two are weirdo girl and grumpy."

"Actually, it's Christiko and Shojaro," Shinpachi corrected the redhead.

Kagura ignored the older teenager, and told Sean and Christine, "Say hello to Sadaharu."

Sean blinked multiple times at the big creature. The first thing he said was, "What…what is this creature?"

"It's an inugami," Shinpachi informed him.

Sean bit his lower lip, and wondered if he should try to pet Sadaharu's nose. Sadaharu _looked_ friendly, but what if he didn't like strangers? Would he growl at Sean and Christine just because he didn't know who they were?

The man gave him a somewhat cracked smile, and he reached out to touch his nose, but without warning, Sadaharu chomped on his _entire_ hand. Sean's jaw dropped, and he shrieked in excruciating pain. Christine, however, wasn't all that surprised; she kind of figured Sadaharu would bite him. She would've warned her older brother that the inugami tended to bite people, but for some reason, she didn't even bother cautioning him. It wasn't like she _wanted_ him to get bitten, but still.

Sean backed away from Sadaharu, and gawped at his chomped-up hand as tears formed in his eyes. He whimpered, "Ow…that really hurt."

Shinpachi gave him a sheepish smile, and said as he scratched the top of his head, "Sadaharu tends to bite people, so you and Christiko-san should be careful when you're around him."

Sean cried in a weak tone as he rubbed his now-sore hand, "I'll try to be careful, alright."

"Anyway!" Kagura cheered, not giving a crap about Sean's hand. "Let's head to the forest!"

"The forest?" The veterinarian shifted a brow up. "Are you going to try to find those mermaids?"

"Yes," Shinpachi replied. "Did you see the news, too?"

"I did, actually. I heard that the Shinsengumi, plus some Edo citizens, are going to go there as soon as possible."

Gintoki's lips tugged into a frown, and complained, "Seriously? Come on, I want to see some mermaids; the last thing I want is to bump into those Shinsengumi bastards again."

"Well, it can't be helped," The veterinarian sighed. "Anyway, good luck finding those mermaids."

"Thanks!" Christine smirked; then stormed out of the vet.

Shinpachi, Sean, and Kagura rolled their eyes. The rest of the group exited the small building, with Sadaharu by their side. Kagura still hugged Sadaharu, and kept on saying how much she missed him. It was understandable why she wouldn't stop saying 'I missed you so much' to Sadaharu, but Gintoki was starting to get annoyed by it.

So he ordered the pale-skinned girl, "Oi, Kagura, we understand that you've missed Sadaharu, but quit saying 'I missed you' so much. It's getting annoying."

The only response Gintoki received was a harsh glare. Kagura stomped on his foot, and yelled, "You're a cold person, uh-huh!"

Gintoki hissed in pain, and held his foot while hopping on the other. Kagura pouted as she tugged on Sadaharu's collar, "I can say 'I missed you' to Sadaharu all I'd like!" She faced the inugami, and smiled, "Are you happy to get out of that hellhole?"

"Arf!" Sadaharu barked happily.

Gintoki set his foot down, and growled, "Damn brat."

Kagura jumped on Sadaharu's back, and ran her fingers through his white fur. Christine peered at the animal, and thought, _Hm…can I ride on Sadaharu as well?_

She contemplated on whether or not to ask Kagura if she could ride on him as well. Christine held her chin, and knitted a brow while adding in thought, _Sadaharu doesn't really know me, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask._

She shrugged her shoulders, and spoke up, "Hey, Kagura-chan…"

"What is it, weirdo girl?" Kagura asked as she tried making herself comfortable.

Christine scratched the back of her head, and suggested, "May I ride on Sadaharu, too?"

Kagura blinked at the older girl; she looked at Sadaharu once more, and questioned, "Sadaharu, may weirdo girl also ride on your back?"

Sadaharu sniffed Christine's hair; Christine frowned at his action, and said, "Uh, do you really have to smell my hair?"

The creature barked in a cheerful tone. At first, Christine thought Sadaharu answered 'yes', but, again, without any warning, Sadaharu put his mouth over her head. His paws rested on her shoulders, and since he was almost standing up, Kagura was forced to jump off of him. Christine screamed in his mouth, and commanded, "Hey, you big animal! Let go of my head!"

Sean's jaw dropped as his left brow twitched. He weakly said, "Sadaharu…he's chomping on my sisters head…"

Christine moved her arms around as if that would help. Sadaharu didn't let go. Christine tried pushing his mouth open, but she wasn't strong enough to do that. She screamed yet again, "Sadaharu! Let. Go. Of. ME!"

Sean glanced at Kagura, and asked, "Aren't you going to stop Sadaharu?"

Kagura rolled her cerulean eyes, but ordered her pet, "Sadaharu! Release weirdo girl!"

Sadaharu almost immediately opened his mouth, releasing Christine. The light-brown haired girl fell on the ground, landing on her butt. She glared at him, but all Sadaharu did was bark as if nothing had happened. Based on Sadaharu's expression, he apparently liked Christine.

Kagura grinned, "I think he likes your hair, uh-huh."

Christine rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. How can he like my hair?"

"Maybe it's because you took a shower, yep."

"I took a shower _yesterday_."

Sadaharu sniffed her hair again, but Christine hopped back, and exclaimed, "You know what?! I think I'll just walk!" She stepped as far away as possible. Christine glared at him, but Sadaharu's expression didn't change. Instead, he barked for the umpteenth time as Kagura climbed onto his back.

Sean and Shinpachi gave out a sigh, but Shinpachi asked the angry girl, "Are you alright, Christiko-san?"

"I wasn't before," Christine admitted as she rubbed her forehead. "But I'm fine now."

"That's good," He smiled with relief.

**15 minutes later…**

The group of six went into the forest. Everyone looked around, seeing nothing but trees and bushes. Gintoki and Shinpachi stepped onto various branches, while Christine cupped her hands over her mouth, and yelled, "Mermaids! Where are you?!"

Gintoki smacked the back of her head, and snarled, "Shut up, brat. The mermaids won't respond if you just yell. Besides, even if they answered, we still wouldn't know exactly where they are."

Christine yelped at his smack, but scoffed as she glared at the samurai, "Whatever. But I _know_ we'll find them soon, because like that veterinarian said, the Shinsengumi and other Edo citizens will arrive shortly."

"But how do you know they're not here yet?" Shinpachi asked, furrowing a brow.

Christine hesitated, but eventually responded, "I don't."

Shinpachi sighed, "To tell you the truth, I hope they're not there yet. I don't want them to see us, and ask if we're looking for the mermaids, too."

"Why's that?"

Instead of responding, Shinpachi just shrugged. Apparently, he didn't have a real reason. Christine frowned at his silent response, but she heaved a sigh, and decided to not say anything else.

Then, all of a sudden, Sadaharu could hear water splashing. The tips of his ears twitched, and he barked, causing the Yorozuya and the siblings to stare at him. Shinpachi was about to ask, 'what is it', but he also heard some water splashing. He widened his eyes, and asked, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kagura questioned. Before Shinpachi could answer, Sadaharu started running towards the sound. Kagura gasped as she held onto the back of his collar. The others snapped their eyes wide, and sprinted towards the animal.

Sadaharu didn't run for very long; he stopped right in front of a huge lake, and sniffed the water as if it something was odd. Then again, there were rumors about mermaids living in a lake in this forest, so…maybe Sadaharu was trying to sniff for the mermaids. After all, he looked and acted like a dog, despite being an inugami.

As soon as everybody else stepped by the lake, Kagura hopped off of Sadaharu, and petted his fur as she acknowledged, "Well done, Sadaharu! You've found the lake, uh-huh!"

"Now all we need to do is find the mermaids," Christine murmured. "Perhaps we should go in the water, and search for them."

"Uh, news flash, kid," Gintoki began. "None of us can breathe underwater."

"I know that!" Christine hissed. "What I mean is…can any of you see clearly while you're underwater?"

"I can," Shinpachi answered.

"Same here, uh-huh," Kagura also responded.

"Eh, I guess I can see while I'm underwater, though my vision gets blurry," Gintoki confirmed.

Christine gazed at her older brother, and asked, "Bro, can you see while you're in the water?" She and Sean had gone swimming (In their world) before, but the last time they actually did that was when Christine was eight. Because of that, Christine couldn't remember if Sean was able see under the water.

Sean's lips barely made a smile; when he didn't answer her immediately, Christine found out that his answer was no.

Sean replied, "Um…unless I'm wearing goggles, I can't open my eyes in the water. Otherwise my eyes will sting badly."

Christine shrugged, "Anyway, I want one of you to put your head in the water, and see if any mermaids are in this lake. As I mentioned earlier, I have a huge love of mermaids, so I want to meet them sooner than later."

Kagura raised her hand up, and volunteered, "I'll do it."

"Good," The other girl smirked.

The Yato stepped over to the edge of a lake, and knelt on the grass as she took a few deep breaths. Kagura stared at the water, and was about to put her head in when suddenly, a feminine figure with short green hair and purple eyes poked half her body out of the clear liquid. The only "clothing" she wore was a green shell-bra.

The figure spoke, "My, were you about to drink some of the water?"

Kagura, plus the rest of the group, widened her eyes in utter shock. She didn't scream at the woman's sudden appearance, but she hit her butt on the ground, and backed away. Kagura shouted, "Where the hell did you come from?!"

The woman blinked, "From the water, silly."

"From the water? Wait a minute…" Sean muttered. "…are you…a mermaid?"

The short-haired figure smiled, "I am, young man." She showed the group her teal-green tail, but also splashed them with water.

Everybody screamed, but Christine gasped, "Hold on…a _mermaid_?!" When she was fairly certain that this wasn't a dream, she smiled, and exclaimed, "Oh my god, I've _finally_ met a mermaid! Can you believe this?!"

While Christine's eyes were sparkling with joy, Sean gawked at the mermaid, and mumbled, "Wow…so the rumors are true. Mermaids _are_ living in this lake."

The sea-creature apparently heard him, because she replied with a raised brow, "Rumors? What rumors?"

"Haven't you-" Sean tried answering, but a siren interrupted him.

Everyone glanced in another direction, and they noticed that there were police cars parked at the end of the forest. Though they were far away, everybody except Gintoki and Kagura gasped, realizing that the Shinsengumi were on their way over. They knew they would come; they just didn't expect them to arrive _this_ fast.

Christine, Sean, and Shinpachi started panicking. What would happen if the Shinsengumi members saw them talking to a pretty-looking mermaid? Would they try to capture the mermaid, and bring her to a laboratory to experiment her? Would they attempt to kill her, and eat her as if she was salmon? Would they try to remove her tail, and give her fake legs (Would that even be possible, though?)?

Too many questions roamed through their minds; when the green-haired woman saw the uniforms on the Shinsengumi officers, she gasped in horror, and whispered, "Oh, no! It's those devils!"

"Devils?" Shinpachi repeated.

She quickly nodded her head, "Yes! I recognize their uniform!" She faced the others, and suggested, "I can't have them see you! You'll have to go in the water with me!"

"Come again?" Sean asked in disbelief.

She ignored him, and said to herself, "I'll need to call my friends!" The mermaid cleared her throat, and began singing in a high tune. Gintoki stared at the woman in amazement; where and how did she learn to sing like that? That's all Gintoki wanted to know.

In a matter of seconds, two more mermaids appeared. One had long, blackish-brown wavy hair with blue eyes, and wore a blue shell-bra; the other had chin-length blonde hair with gray eyes; she wore a pink shell-bra.

While the Yorozuya and the siblings stared at the other women in astonishment, the purple-eyed once commanded, "Help me pull these five humans into the water!"

"Actually, I'm a Yato, uh-huh," Kagura corrected her. "And what do you mean _five_? Are you planning on leaving Sadaharu behind?"

"If you're talking about that dog-like creature behind you, then yes."

Kagura frowned, and pouted as she folded her arms over her chest, "But why?! Why can't he come with us?!"

"Young lady, he'll only slow us down. Besides, even if he stepped into the water, he'd want to get out immediately."

Shinpachi rested a hand on Kagura's shoulder, and agreed, "She's right, Kagura-chan. Although I don't want to leave Sadaharu behind, it's probably best to leave him here until we return."

"But I don't want him to stay here! I want him to come with us!" She began raising her tone.

They heard Hijikata Toshiro yelling from the other side of the forest, "Oi! Don't slack off, or you're not getting any dinner tonight!"

Kagura furrowed her brows, and gazed at her pet "dog" before petting his nose once more. She whimpered, trying to hold back tears, "We'll be back, Sadaharu. I promise."

Sean stammered, "B-But wait! W-We can't just go in the w-water! If we're in th-there for a long time, we c-could drown!"

The blonde mermaid shook her head, "Don't worry, young man. We'll give you some air when you're underwater."

"Wait, what?" Sean expected the mermaid to explain what she was talking about, but she, plus the other two women, pulled him, Gintoki, Shinpachi, Kagura, and Christine into the water. Sean yelped, but managed to shut his eyes tightly before he was forced to go in.

He attempted to plug his nose, but the blonde woman placed her lips on his'. Though Sean didn't want to open his eyes, since he was underwater, he snapped them open, and gawped at the mermaid. He wanted to get out of the lake, but he could feel air going into his lungs.

The mermaid with brown hair gave some air to Gintoki and Shinpachi, while the one with green hair gave air to Kagura and Christine. When the teenage girls received it, though, they scowled, "You just kissed me!" Both of them raised their brows in bewilderment. They just talked underwater. Christine didn't know whether to smile or frown at that.

Gintoki accidentally exclaimed, "Whoa! Did you just kiss me?!"

The blue-eyed mermaid rolled her eyes, and replied, "No. I gave you some air."

Gintoki moved closer to her, and asked quietly, "Could you do it again?"

She scowled, and then slapped him in the face. Gintoki rubbed his cheek, and grumbled, "I don't think I deserved that."

The emerald-haired mermaid decided to introduce herself, "I think I should tell you my name now." She cleared her throat, and added, "My name is Ori."

"Ori? That's an intriguing name," Christine chuckled in amusement.

Ori introduced her friends, "The brown-haired girl is Ako, and the blonde girl is Seina."

"It's nice to meet you," Ako and Seina greeted them.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Shinpachi greeted back, though he felt a little weird for talking inside a lake.

Ako crossed her arms, and insisted, "Okay, since you five are now inside the lake, you'll have to come with us."

"Huh? To where?" Sean frowned.

"You'll see," The brunette responded. She turned around, and began swimming.

Ori widened her eyes, and called out, "Ako, at least wait for us!" She tugged her arms around Kagura and Christine's, and started swimming as well.

Seina tugged her arms around Shinpachi and Sean's, and also swam. Gintoki's jaw dropped when he found out that nobody was tugging his arm. He yelled as he tried catching up to them, "Oi! Wait up!" He wasn't the fastest swimmer ever, but hopefully, he'd be able to catch up before the mermaids lost him.

Something clicked Sean's mind; he questioned, "I just realized something. Why was the lake in the _middle_ of the forest?"

Seina shrugged, "I don't know."

Sean face-palmed himself.

* * *

**This is the start of the "Mermaids Arc"! Honestly, part of me wanted to write this arc, because I love mermaids (Though I don't really care for "The Little Mermaid"). LOL Anyway, I realized that I _completely _forgot to add Sadaharu in this story, so...here he is! XD**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I'm more of a night person, not surprisingly.**

**_Question of the update:_ Which OC in this story do you like more? Christine or Sean?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 19! :)**


	20. An obsession with seafood can lead to

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 20: An obsession with seafood can lead to insanity**

The mermaids continued holding onto the Yorozuya and the Wardenhall siblings. Well, Gintoki was the only person left out, so he was practically forced to swim on his own. He didn't swim very often, so he was kind of slow.

Seina glanced at the silver-haired man from the corner of her eye, and said in a boring tone, "That man is as slow as a slug."

Shinpachi frowned at Seina's words, and he replied, "That's probably because he has legs, and you have a fin."

"That could be it," She shrugged.

Sean asked, "I don't mean to be rude, ma'am, but are you always this expressionless?"

"You could say that," Seina admitted as she narrowed her eyes. "But I'm not _always_ expressionless."

Ori, who was still holding onto Christine and Kagura, asked politely, "I completely forgot to ask this question, but what're your names?"

Kagura opened her mouth to speak, but Christine spoke up, "I'm Christiko, and this is Kagura."

"Christiko…Kagura…" Ori whispered the names to herself. "Such unique names." A giggle escaped her lips, but Kagura rolled her eyes.

The three mermaids finally stopped swimming, but it took Gintoki about five minutes to catch up to them. As soon as he was beside them, he panted heavily, and yelled, "Haven't you ever heard the words 'wait for me'?! The brunette girl could've at least held onto me!"

Ako harshly glared at him, and snarled, "I would _never_ want to hold onto a pervert."

"Oi! Why am I the pervert?!"

"You wanted me to 'kiss' you again."

Gintoki frowned, "Okay, so maybe I wanted you to have your lips on mine again, but you still could've held my arm! That way, I wouldn't have swum for god-knows-how-long, just to catch up with you and the others!"

Ako scoffed, "Tch, you humans…"

"Huh?" He gave her a confused expression, but Ako paid no mind to it, and went back to swimming.

Ori shouted, "Ako! Please be nice to our visitors!"

Ako ignored her.

Ori sighed, "I'm sorry for Ako's behavior. She just…doesn't like humans."

"Oi!" Kagura cried.

Ori added, "Or Yato's."

Kagura smiled.

Shinpachi sighed, "I can't say I'm surprised by that."

"But anyway," Ori took a deep breath, "we're heading over to the castle."

"Wait, _castle_?" Christine asked in disbelief. She glanced in Ako's direction, and saw a big castle. Her mouth ajar, and without thinking, she yelled as she pointed at the huge building, "I-I-Is that your castle?!"

Ori giggled once again, "It is. You've never been to a castle before?"

"Erm…no."

Kagura exclaimed, "Whoa! I don't think I've seen a castle _this_ big before, nope!"

Shinpachi muttered, "Neither have I."

Seina smirked, "You'll definitely love the _inside_ of it."

Ori peered at Gintoki, who was still panting in exhaustion. She gave him a sympathetic look, and she suggested, "Sir, if you don't mind, you can hold onto Kagura or Christiko's arms."

Though Gintoki didn't want to do that, he also didn't want to swim anymore. His legs and arms were already starting to get sore, so if he continued swimming, his body would probably go numb. Or maybe he would just tear up his muscles. Either way, he wanted to take a break from swimming.

He went over to Christine, and tugged her arm as he mumbled, "Thank god my arms and legs aren't numb."

Christine blankly stared at the samurai, and asked a random question, "Did you stretch up your muscles?"

Gintoki gawked at the teenager, but answered, "First off, I'm sure you mean 'tearing up' my muscles. But other than that, no."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure! Quit asking me!" Gintoki snapped, causing Christine to flinch.

"Okay, okay! Sheesh, you don't need to get all pissy!"

"Well, you need to stop asking the same question!"

"I wasn't asking the _same_ question!"

Ori sighed, "Please stop arguing, you two. I really hate it when people argue."

Though Christine and Gintoki glared at each other, the wavy-haired idiot didn't let go of her arm. Christine didn't bother pushing him off of her, but she averted her gaze away from him. She grumbled, "I don't wanna talk to you for now."

"I don't wanna talk to you, either," Gintoki grumbled as well.

Ori rolled her lavender eyes.

About a moment or two later, they arrived at the entrance to the castle. Ori set Kagura, Christine, and Gintoki down while Seina released Shinpachi and Sean. They rested their feet on the sand as they peered at the gate.

Gintoki questioned as he began picking his ear, "Okay…how do we get in?"

"Easy," Seina responded as she swam beside the gate. She told everyone, "Move to the side."

Everybody did so, and when they were out of the way, Seina said to the huge gate, "Meralia."

Almost immediately, the gate slowly lowered down. Shinpachi questioned, "Is that the password for the gate?"

"Yes, though I don't really like it. But hey, I'm not the one who made the password, so I can't complain." She shrugged her shoulders, and as soon as the gate hit the sand, she, plus Ako and Ori, swam into the castle. The others tried walking, but because they were underwater, they were going _very_ slow.

Kagura's lips tugged into a frown, and she complained, "Why does water have to slow us down?!" She gripped on her purple parasol, and without another second to spare, she slammed the side of her umbrella into the four humans. Gintoki, Sean, Shinpachi, and Christine yelped, but they managed to swim into the castle without any more trouble. Kagura skipped on the sand, and although she was still slow, skipping was a little bit faster than walking.

When everybody went in, Seina said the code name again, and the gate closed. Ori swam in front of the group, and smiled, "Now, when Forai-sama meets you, you'll have to bow, and address her as either 'Forai-sama' or 'your majesty'."

"Forai? Is that your queen?" Christine arched a brow.

Ori nodded, "Yes, she's our queen. She's not a mean person, but she doesn't like it when people address her without the honorific of 'sama'. So please don't be rude to her in any way, shape, or form." She motioned everyone to follow her as she swam yet again, along with her friends.

Kagura held her umbrella over her shoulder as she glanced around the hallway. The inside of the castle looked like any other castle, only it was obviously underwater. Large paintings of mermaids were hung on the wall, and the floors looked like they were made of marble.

The group of five parted their lips in amazement; Christine wanted to ask if this was real, but she was too astounded to even speak. However, she thought, _I'm actually in a castle…this is the best day of my life!_

A silly smile crept up her features, but she didn't realize that the others had left her behind. While she was apparently staring off into space, Shinpachi shouted out her fake name, "Christiko-san!" Christine snapped back into reality, and when she saw that the Yorozuya and Sean were far ahead of her, she let out a gasp, and started running (Or swimming) towards them. Shinpachi added with a sigh, "Don't stare off like that."

Christine rubbed the back of her neck, and replied, "I was staring at the paintings."

Shinpachi rolled his brown eyes, "Come on, we're about to see the mermaid queen. And Christiko-san…"

"Yes?" She furrowed a brow in slight worry. She had a bad feeling on what Shinpachi was going to say. Christine had hoped he wouldn't say something like 'don't touch anything', because she wanted to feel the paintings (Don't ask why). Then again, paintings never felt like anything, so that'd be pretty pointless. Still, Christine didn't want Shinpachi to order her around.

Shinpachi finished, "…please, _please_ be on your best behavior when we meet her. Because, as Ori-san said, we can't be rude to her. And since you tend to cause an attitude towards some people, I'd really appreciate it if you showed the mermaid queen some respect."

Oh, _that's_ what he wanted to say? Christine was half-relieved that he didn't tell her to not lay a finger on anything in the castle, but she didn't expect Shinpachi to say that she needed to be on her best behavior. Actually, she _should've_ expected him to tell her that, because she _had_ been rude to some people ever since she and Sean got sucked into the Gintama world (Which was around four weeks ago).

Christine grinned, and patted Shinpachi's shoulder as she replied, "Don't worry, Shinpachi-san; I'll try not to be rude."

Shinpachi widened his eyes in mild surprise. He asked, "You won't? I actually expected you to say, 'I can be rude all I want'."

He chuckled softly; Christine snorted in amusement, "I'm not _that_ rude, for your information. I told you, Shinpachi-san; I have a huge love of mermaids, so there's _no way_ I'm going to disrespect the queen of all mermaids."

He smiled, feeling relieved, "Good. Anyway, we have to catch up to the others."

"Yeah," She agreed.

The teenagers ran/swam through the hall; then turned around a corner. They spotted the rest of the group, and while they were trying to catch up to them, Ako swam in front of a pair of doors, and informed everyone, "This is the grand entrance."

"Huh?" Gintoki questioned.

Ako rolled her cerulean eyes, but clarified, "This is where Forai-sama is right now." The second she said that, she opened up the doors, revealing a _ginormous_ room. The room had paintings as well, only the majority of these ones were sea-creatures; not just mermaids. The room also had a long red carpet; long enough to reach a tall golden chair. And the mermaid who was sitting in it was definitely the mermaid queen, Forai.

Forai had long, dark-orange hair and maroon brown eyes. Her hair was in a high ponytail, and her lips were rosy-red. She wore an orange shell-bra, with pearl necklaces and crystal earrings. Forai held a long crescent-moon staff.

Once more, the group widened their eyes. Could this castle get any _more_ gorgeous? Apparently, it could.

When Forai spotted the group of humans and Yato, she raised a brow, and questioned, "Hm? Where did these humans come from? And how're they not drowning?"

Ori informed her, "We gave them some air, Forai-sama."

"Ah, I see. Anyway, who are these people?"

Seina ordered them in a flat tone, "Introduce yourselves."

Though they were fascinated by the scenery, they knew they needed to tell the mermaid queen their names. So each and every one of them introduced themselves.

"I'm Sakata Gintoki."

"I'm Shimura Shinpachi."

"My name's Kagura, uh-huh."

"My name is Shojaro."

"And my name is Christiko." Christine appeared to be the most excited, because she gave the mermaid the biggest smile she'd ever had. Christine couldn't believe that her dream of meeting a real mermaid finally came true (Yes, she had already met the other three mermaids not too long ago, but seeing a _queen_ was a different story). She could just squeal with happiness, and yell, 'This is so fucking amazing! I wish I could take a picture of her!', but she knew better than to scream with joy. Sure, she was ecstatic, but if Christine were to shriek in excitement, everyone would stare at her as if she was crazy. So Christine tried her best to keep quiet. And so far, it was working.

Forai gave them a smirk, and she replied as she got off her chair, "Hm…at least these humans aren't the devils."

"I'm a Yato," Kagura spoke up with a hint of frustration in her tone. She was honestly getting sick and tired of correcting people.

Forai shifted a brow, and peered at the redheaded girl as she held her chin, "Ah, my apologizes, young lady. I honestly can't tell the difference between a human and a Yato, since you _look_ like a human."

Kagura frowned, feeling a bit offended by Forai's comment. How could Forai not tell she was a Yato?! It should've been freaking obvious; Kagura wore Chinese clothes, had pale skin, and a parasol! _Those_ were the differences! Wait, perhaps the reason why Forai couldn't tell was because humans/amanto had never visited this place. Yes, that could be it. Still, though, Kagura was upset – and pissed – at Forai's reply.

Shinpachi whispered to the girl, "Kagura-chan, I know you're upset, but please don't try to backtalk her."

Kagura didn't say anything, but she released a huff, and crossed her arms. Forai ignored her pout, and glanced at the other four. The orange-haired mermaid put a hand under Gintoki's chin, and she questioned, "Doesn't part of your first name mean 'silver'?"

"Yeah," Gintoki stared at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"Silver's my favorite color." She gave him a barely visible smirk, and without another word, she laced her fingers through his wavy hair. Though Gintoki had to admit that Forai was hot, he frowned at her action. She touched his hair without his permission! How dare she do that!

Gintoki asked, "Um, could you please stop playing with my hair?"

Forai eventually stopped, and gave out a sigh, "I wanted to continue, but since you said 'please', I'll stop."

Gintoki thought, _Good._

"Anyway, are you all hungry?" Forai asked the group.

As if on cue, Christine's stomach growled. She peered at her stomach, and snarled, "Shut up, stomach."

Forai chuckled, "I'll take that as a 'yes'." She turned her body around, and added, "Ori, Ako, Seina, and I were about to have some lunch, anyway. You can eat with us if you'd like."

Christine replied, "Hell yes! I'm starving!"

Sean scowled at his sister, and smacked the back of her head. Christine yelped, "Hey!"

"Be nicer!" Sean hissed.

Forai grinned, "It's alright, young man. She's just excited."

Christine thought, _Not really. I'm just hungry, that's all._

"Follow me," The mermaid queen instructed. When she started swimming towards the dining room, the group of five followed her.

Gintoki whispered to Shinpachi, "Do you think they'll have parfaits here?"

Shinpachi whispered back, "Gin-san, we're underwater; I highly doubt they have parfaits. Heck, I'm fairly certain they don't even _know_ what a parfait is."

Gintoki huffed quietly, "That blows."

Shinpachi just rolled his eyes. Gintoki _really_ needed to cut down on the sweets. If he lived in the real world, there would be no doubt that he'd get diabetes (Or something worse) before he turned 30.

Everybody entered the dining room. It wasn't as nice as the main room, but it still looked lovely. Ako gave the humans and Yato a stern look, and said, "Just to let you know, our food is _nothing_ like the food you humans have."

"For the last time, I'm a _YATO_!" Kagura snapped as a vein popped in her cheek.

The mermaid rolled her eyes, and muttered, "Humans, Yato, whatever…"

Forai frowned at Ako's attitude, and she ordered, "Ako, don't be rude to our guests."

"Che," Was all Ako said. She swam out of the dining room, but not before shoving Gintoki and Shinpachi to the side.

Ori exclaimed, "Ako!" Ako ignored Ori, and went into her room within seconds.

As soon as she slammed the door closed, Forai sighed, "That girl…" She faced the group, and noticed that they had baffled expressions.

Kagura knitted her brows, and yelled, "What _is_ her problem?! Jeez, she probably needs to take anger control classes, uh-huh!"

"I think you mean anger _management_ classes," Shinpachi corrected the redhead.

Another sigh parted Forai's lips, and she apologized, "I'm very sorry for the way Ako's behaving. She just…"

She paused, but Shinpachi finished for her, "…doesn't like humans or amanto?"

Forai nodded; she changed the subject, "But let's forget what happened just now. Please have a seat."

Each person sat in a chair. The mermaids sat as well. The Yorozuya and the siblings tried putting their butts on the chairs, but because they were in the water, they were practically "floating" just above their seats.

Seina grabbed a plate full of food, and handed it to Gintoki as she said, "These are clam-puffs. Each of you should only have one."

Gintoki gawked at the clam-puff, and asked, "Are they good?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Seina asked back as she took a bite of her clam-puff.

Gintoki rolled his eyes, but grabbed a clam-puff from the plate, and brought it to his lips. However, just as he was going to eat it, he plugged his nose, and parted his mouth before stuffing the clam-puff in his face.

Seina shifted a blonde brow up, and questioned, "Why were you plugging your nose? You can breathe just fine."

"That's not it," The man replied. "I plugged my nose, because it prevents me from actually tasting the food. But, this isn't half-bad."

Christine held a clam-puff as well, but examined it as if it was poisoned. She tried sniffing at it, but she couldn't smell anything. Christine took a bite of the food, and as she chewed it, she snapped her emerald eyes wide.

Without a second thought, she exclaimed, "Holy crap, this is delicious!"

Sean and Shinpachi glared at her for blurting that out loud (And not to mention that she said a swear word in _front_ of the queen). Christine didn't say that on purpose, though. She was just amazed at how good this clam-puff was.

Christine wondered as she took another bite, _I'm pretty sure these are actually called "stuffed clams", but I don't care! This is too fucking good!_

Sean faced the queen, and bowed, "I'm sorry about my sister, your majesty. She gets excited kind of easily."

Forai grinned, "It's okay. I'm glad she likes the food."

Sean sighed, and also ate the food. He wasn't a huge fan of seafood, but he tolerated it.

For the past few minutes, everybody ate in silence. Shinpachi had contemplated asking Forai about Ako's problem. He _knew_ Ako had a problem; he just didn't exactly know what it was. He wanted to ask, but at the same time, he was kind of afraid to, because what if something tragic had happened years ago? Also, why did Ako have a hate towards humans/amanto? And more importantly, why did Ori call the Shinsengumi "devils" before forcing the Yorozuya, Christine, and Sean into the water?

Shinpachi took a deep breath, and asked, "Forai-sama, I apologize if I'm butting into your business, but…what is wrong with Ako-san? Why does she hate humans?"

Forai narrowed her eyes as her smile vanished from her face. Seina and Ori also narrowed their eyes, but their hands started to shake for some reason. Shinpachi chewed on his lower lip, and thought, regretting that he had asked, _Crap. I knew I shouldn't have asked._

Forai didn't appear to look angry, but she ran her fingers through her orange hair, and began to grip it. The humans and Yato stopped eating, including Christine. Although Christine now loved the clam-puffs, she halted, because Shinpachi asked a question that probably infuriated the mermaid queen.

But apparently, Forai wasn't furious. Instead of sneering, or even growling, she gave the boy a weak smile, and responded, "It's because…she lost her little sister."

"Huh?!" Everybody except Seina and Ori yowled.

Forai tried her best not to cry. Then again, even if she did cry, tears wouldn't be able to form. But anyway, Forai explained, "Five years ago, Ako used to have a little sister. Back when Ako didn't have a hatred towards humans, she and her sister used to smile, and play a lot. But one day, her little sister was naïve enough to go to the surface of the lake, and see what it was like outside of the water. Then, the devils somehow spotted her, and they caught her. She tried swimming away, but she wasn't fast enough. Ako cried all night, saying that it was her fault, because she wasn't watching her at the time."

Dead silence filled the dining room. Seina and Ori could only stare at the food, and Shinpachi added, "So…Ako-san's little sister never returned?"

"No," Forai shook her head.

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"It's alright. It's not your fault." Forai moved away from the table, and informed everyone, "I'll be right back. I'm going to have a word with Ako."

With that, she swam out of the room, now heading to Ako's bedroom. As soon as Forai was out of sight, Gintoki asked as he ate the rest of his clam-puff, "Is that the reason why you call those Shinsengumi bastards 'devils'?"

Seina nodded, "Yes. Although we don't know what they did to her, we were fairly certain that they…_experimented_ her."

Sean choked on his food. He punched his own fist on his chest, and coughed out, "E-Experimented?!" Suddenly, the thought of Ako's sister being "experimented" by the Shinsengumi made him gag a little. He frowned at his food, and eventually put it on the plate as he murmured, "I was eating, you know."

Seina heard Sean, but she shrugged her shoulders, as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Shinpachi asked yet another question, "Do you believe she's dead?"

Christine rested her cheek in her palm, and muttered, "Man, you sure like to ask a lot of questions, don't you, Shinpachi-san?"

Shinpachi retorted calmly as he shrugged a shoulder, "I'm just curious, that's all."

Rolling her eyes, she snatched another clam-puff from the plate. Seina rested her arms on the table as she responded to the teenage boy, "At first, we thought the devils trapped her into a tub of water, but after about a year of waiting for her to come back, we believed she was dead. Ever since she's been taken away, Ako began to hate humans, despite never actually meeting one, aside from you and your friends."

Shinpachi furrowed his brows, "Now I understand why Ako-san has this rude behavior."

"She's ruder than weirdo girl," Gintoki uttered, obviously referring to Christine.

Seina heaved a sigh, and changed the topic, "Anyway, I should probably clean these dishes."

Shinpachi thought, _But they're underwater. How can they clean dishes when they're living in the lake?_

He tried thinking about that, but soon decided, _You know what? I don't even think I should worry about that._

**Meanwhile, in Ako's room…**

Ako screamed into her pillow, crying. If she was on dry land, tears would be flowing down her cheeks.

The brunette suddenly heard the door open, and she was about to holler, 'Knock before barging in!', but when she noticed that queen Forai entered, she stayed silent. Ako averted her gaze away from her as Forai swam over to her bed.

As soon as Forai was close enough, she sat on the foot of the bed, and asked, "Ako, why did you have to be impolite to our visitors? Just because they're human, doesn't mean you can say rude things to them."

Ako's cheeks flushed in a mixture of anger an embarrassment. Without letting the younger mermaid respond, Forai continued, "I've already told them about your sister."

"Wait, what?!" Ako exclaimed in disapproval.

"They needed to know why you caused an attitude towards them, so I told them."

"F-Forai-sama! I-I thought-"

"You thought _what_, Ako?" Forai questioned in a harsh tone.

Ako paused. She didn't know how to answer that; even if she did respond to that question, Forai would either make a harsh comment, or slap her in the face for back-talking to her.

When no words exchanged, Forai got up from the bed, and said, "That's what I thought. You cannot believe that _every_ human being is a monster." With that being said, Forai hurriedly swam out of the room, leaving Ako all by herself.

The blue-eyed mermaid clenched her fist, and punched it into her bed. She then bit her lower lip, and stuffed her face into her the sheets before crying her heart out.

* * *

**So, Ori's a kind girl, Seina's an expressionless person, Forai's a beautiful queen (Not _too_ beautiful, though), and Ako's a rude woman. LOL**

**I've got good news, readers! I have the rest of this story all planned out (As in, _planned _planned)! :D All I have to do right now is write them down! ^^**

**Also, if you want to know what Christine looks like, you can go to my Deviantart account, and look through my gallery (My account there is xAL19x). :)**

**_My answer from the previous question:_ I honestly can't answer this question (I know, it's weird, because I wrote that question down. LOL); I love writing Christine's childish/somewhat bratty personality, but I also love writing Sean's seriousness (And his obsession with his book. Haha.).**

**_Question of the update:_ Do you have any scars? If so, how did you get them?**

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 20! :)**


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